Transport Act, 1950

Power of the Board to make bye laws.

22.—(1) The Board may make bye-laws for all or any of the following purposes:—

(a) for regulating the times of arrival and departure of its vehicles or craft;

(b) for regulating the loading and unloading of its vehicles or craft and, subject to any statutory provisions in that behalf, the weights which its vehicles and craft are to carry;

(c) for regulating the receipt and delivery of merchandise and other things which are to be carried on its vehicles or craft;

(d) for preventing the commission of nuisances in or upon its vehicles or craft or the stations, depots or other premises occupied by the Board;

(e) for maintaining order in and regulating the use of the stations, depots or other premises occupied by the Board and the approaches thereto;

(f) for any purpose for which either dissolved undertaker had, immediately before the establishment date, power to make bye-laws;

(g) for providing for the safe custody and re-delivery or disposal of any property found on or in any premises, vessels or vehicles belonging to the Board and for fixing the charges to be made by the Board in respect thereof;

(h) generally for regulating, subject to any statutory provisions in that behalf, the travelling upon or using of its vehicles or craft and the working of the transport services provided by the Board.

(2) The Board shall submit to the Minister for confirmation any bye-laws made by it under this section, and thereupon the following provisions shall have effect:—

(a) the Board shall, as soon as conveniently may be after the submission, publish a notice of the submission at least once in each of two successive weeks in each of the daily morning newspapers published in and circulating in the State;

(b) the notice shall include—

(i) a statement of the purposes for which the bye-laws are made, and

(ii) an intimation that a copy of the bye-laws is open for public inspection at the principal office in the State of the Board, and

(iii) an intimation that any person may submit to the Minister objections to the confirmation of the bye-laws at any time during the period of thirty days commencing on the date of the first publication of the notice;

(c) the Board shall, during the said period of thirty days, keep a copy of the bye-laws open for public inspection during ordinary office hours at its principal office aforesaid;

(d) any person who objects to the confirmation of the bye-laws may, at any time during the said period of thirty days, submit his objections in writing to the Minister;

(e) the Minister shall, as he thinks proper, refuse to confirm the bye-laws or by order confirm the bye-laws without modification or with such modifications as he thinks proper and inserts in the bye-laws, but, if he approves (with or without modification) of the bye-laws he shall not do so until the expiration of the said period of thirty days and until he has considered any objections to the confirmation submitted to him during that period.

(3) Bye-laws made by the Board under this section shall come into operation if, but only if, they are confirmed by order under this section, and if they are so confirmed, the day on which they shall come into operation shall be the day specified in that behalf in the order confirming them.

(4) Where a person contravenes a provision of bye-laws made under this section which is stated in the bye-laws to be a penal provision, he shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.

(5) Bye-laws made under this section which have been confirmed by order under this section shall be published in such manner as the Minister may direct.

(6) Bye-laws made under this section shall not prejudice or affect the operation of any bye-laws made under or in pursuance of any statutory provisions by any harbour or sanitary authority.

(7) A document which purports to be a copy of bye-laws made under this section and which has endorsed thereon a certificate (purporting to be signed by an officer of the Board authorised in that behalf) stating that the document is a true copy of the bye-laws and that the bye-laws were in force on a specified date shall, without proof of the signature of such officer or that he was in fact such officer or was so authorised, be evidence (until the contrary is proved) in every court and in all legal proceedings of the bye-laws and of the fact that they were in force on the date so specified.

(8) (a) In this subsection the expression “former transport company” means any company being—

(i) an absorbed company or an amalgamated company, within the meaning of the Railways Act, 1924 (No. 29 of 1924),

(ii) a dissolved company, within the meaning of the Act of 1944, or

(iii) either dissolved undertaker.

(b) All bye-laws made by any former transport company and which are in force immediately before the establishment date shall, on and after the establishment date, continue in force and be deemed to have been made under this section and shall be capable of being amended or revoked by bye-laws made under this section.

(9) Every order under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either House of the Oireachtas within the next twenty-one days upon which that House has sat after the order has been laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

(10) Section 127 of the Road Traffic Act, 1933 (No. 11 of 1933), shall not apply to property left in public service vehicles owned or operated by the Board.