Harbours (Amendment) Act 2009
|
Transfer of Bantry Bay Harbour and Tralee and Fenit Pier and Harbour, etc. |
18.— (1) The Principal Act is amended by inserting the following section after section 87: | |
“87A.— (1) In this section— | ||
‘ relevant harbour commissioners ’ means— | ||
(a) in relation to the Port of Cork Company, Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners, and | ||
(b) in relation to the Shannon Foynes Port Company, Tralee and Fenit Pier and Harbour Commissioners; | ||
‘ relevant port company ’ means— | ||
(a) in relation to Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners, the Port of Cork Company, and | ||
(b) in relation to Tralee and Fenit Pier and Harbour Commissioners, the Shannon Foynes Port Company; | ||
‘ transfer day ’ means the day appointed by the Minister under paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (2). | ||
(2) (a) The Minister may, subject to paragraph (c) and after consultation with Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners, the Port of Cork Company and such other persons (if any) as the Minister considers it appropriate in the circumstances to consult, by order appoint a day as the transfer day for the purposes of this section in respect of Bantry Bay Harbour and, with effect from that day, the Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners are dissolved. | ||
(b) The Minister may, subject to paragraph (c) and after consultation with Tralee and Fenit Pier and Harbour Commissioners, the Shannon Foynes Port Company and such other persons (if any) as the Minister considers it appropriate in the circumstances to consult, by order appoint a day as the transfer day for the purposes of this section in respect of Tralee and Fenit Pier and Harbour and, with effect from that day, the Tralee and Fenit Pier and Harbour Commissioners are dissolved. | ||
(c) An order under paragraph (a) or (b) shall not be made until after a public consultation process has taken place in respect of Bantry Bay Harbour or Tralee and Fenit Pier and Harbour, respectively, and all submissions duly made in accordance with that process have been considered. | ||
(d) In paragraph (c) ‘public consultation process’ means an invitation by the Minister to the public for submissions, within a specified time limit, on a proposal to make an order under paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (2) where such invitation is made by means of a notice to that effect published in a newspaper circulating within the State and published on the internet. | ||
(e) The making of an order under this subsection is in lieu of making an order under section 87(1) or 88(2) in respect of the harbour concerned. | ||
(3) With effect from the transfer day concerned, there is transferred— | ||
(a) to the Port of Cork Company from Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners, or | ||
(b) to Shannon Foynes Port Company from Tralee and Fenit Pier and Harbour Commissioners, | ||
all property (real and personal) and rights held or enjoyed immediately before that day by the relevant harbour commissioners and all liabilities incurred before that day by them that had not been discharged before that day and, accordingly, without any further conveyance, transfer or assignment— | ||
(i) the property so held or enjoyed, both real and personal, vests on the transfer day in the Port of Cork Company or Shannon Foynes Port Company, as the case may be, for all the estate, term or interest for which, immediately before that day, it was vested in the relevant harbour commissioners, but subject to all trusts and equities affecting the property and capable of being performed, | ||
(ii) the rights so held or enjoyed, are as on and from the transfer day, held and enjoyed by the Port of Cork Company or Shannon Foynes Port Company, as the case may be, and | ||
(iii) the liabilities so incurred are, as on and from the transfer day, the liabilities of the Port of Cork Company or Shannon Foynes Port Company, as the case may be. | ||
(4) All moneys, stocks, shares and securities transferred to the relevant port company by this section that, immediately before the transfer day, are in the name of the relevant harbour commissioners, shall, at the request of the relevant port company, be transferred into that company’s name. | ||
(5) Every right and liability transferred to the relevant port company by this section may, on and after the transfer day, be sued on, recovered or enforced by or against the relevant port company in its own name and it shall not be necessary for it to give notice of the transfer to the person whose right or liability is transferred by this section. | ||
(6) Every— | ||
(a) bond, guarantee or other security of a continuing nature, and | ||
(b) contract or agreement, | ||
made or given by or on behalf of the relevant commissioners to any person or given by any person to and accepted by or on behalf of the relevant harbour commissioners— | ||
(i) continues in force on and after the transfer day concerned, | ||
(ii) shall be read and have effect as if the name of the relevant company were substituted in the contract or agreement for that of the relevant harbour commissioners concerned or, as the case may be, any trustee or agent acting on their behalf, and | ||
(iii) is enforceable against the relevant company. | ||
(7) If, immediately before the transfer day concerned, any legal proceedings to which the relevant harbour commissioners are a party are pending, the relevant port company’s name shall be substituted in the proceedings for the name of the relevant harbour commissioners, and the proceedings shall not abate because of the substitution. | ||
(8) (a) With effect from the transfer day concerned, the Port of Cork Company in respect of Bantry Bay Harbour and the Shannon Foynes Port Company in respect of Tralee and Fenit Pier and Harbour may make bye-laws under sections 42 and 71. | ||
(b) Without prejudice to the exercise of functions under sections 42 and 71 (by virtue of paragraph (a)) for the purposes of the Sixth Schedule, all bye-laws of, and all other instruments relating to harbour rates of, Bantry Bay Harbour or Tralee and Fenit Pier and Harbour which are subsisting on the transfer day concerned shall continue in force and may be amended or revoked by the relevant port company— | ||
(i) in like manner as they could have been revoked by the relevant harbour commissioners before that day, or | ||
(ii) under section 42 as if they had been made under that section. | ||
(9) (a) As soon as practicable after the transfer day, the relevant port company shall prepare, in such form as may be approved by the Minister, all proper and usual accounts of money received or expended by the relevant harbour commissioners in the accounting year, or the part of an accounting year, of those commissioners ending immediately before the transfer day. | ||
(b) The relevant port company shall submit accounts prepared under this subsection to an auditor for audit under subsection (2) of section 27 as if they were accounts kept for the purposes of that section and the other provisions of the said subsection (2) shall apply to those accounts. | ||
(10) Notwithstanding the repeal of the Harbours Act 1976 under section 19 of the Harbours (Amendment) Act 2009, the functions, duties and powers in relation to Castletownbere Fishery Harbour Centre conferred on the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food by the Fishery Harbour Centres Act 1968 continue to be exercised by that Minister of the Government.”. | ||
(2) The Principal Act is amended— | ||
(a) in section 87, by inserting the following subsection after subsection (2): | ||
“(3) The making of an order under this section is in lieu of making an order under section 87A(2) or 88(2) in respect of the harbour concerned.”, | ||
and | ||
(b) in section 88(2)(a), by substituting “section 87(1) or 87A(2)” for “section 87”. |