Continental Shelf Act, 1968

Safety of navigation.

5.—(1) A person shall not construct, alter or improve any structure or works in or remove any object or material from a designated area without the consent of the Minister for Transport and Power.

(2) The Minister for Transport and Power may, as a condition of considering an application for consent under this section, require to be furnished with such plans and particulars as he may consider necessary and, on receipt of any such application, he may cause notice of the application, and of the time within which and the manner in which objections thereto may be made, to be published in such manner as he may consider appropriate for informing persons affected thereby, and, before granting his consent, may, if he thinks fit, appoint a person to hold an inquiry, and notice of the holding of the inquiry shall be given in the accordance with the provisions of this Act.

(3) If the Minister for Transport and Power is of opinion that the action in respect of which his consent was sought would cause an obstruction or danger to navigation, he shall either refuse his consent thereto or grant his consent subject to such conditions as he may think proper.

(4) All expenses incurred by the Minister for Transport and Power in holding an inquiry under this section shall, unless that Minister with the sanction of the Minister for Finance otherwise directs (in which case they shall, to the extent of the direction, be defrayed out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas), be paid by the person who applied for the consent to which the inquiry related, and the amount of the expenses shall be fixed by the Minister for Finance and shall be recoverable by the Minister for Transport and Power from the person as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(5) The person holding an inquiry under this section may, if he so thinks proper, order the costs and expenses incurred by any person in relation to the inquiry to be paid by any other person who appeared or was represented at the inquiry and, if the person who incurred, or the person who is liable to pay, the costs so requires, the costs and expenses shall be taxed and ascertained by a taxing-master of the High Court and the amount of such costs and expenses when so taxed and ascertained shall be recoverable as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(6) Where a person erects a structure, or removes an object or materials, without the consent of the Minister for Transport and Power or fails to comply with a condition subject to which the consent of that Minister was given under this section and the erection, removal or failure constitutes, in the opinion of that Minister, an obstruction or danger to navigation, that Minister may serve a notice on the person requiring him, within such period (not being less than thirty days) as may be specified in the notice, to remove the structure or to carry out such other directions of that Minister as that Minister may think necessary, or, if it appears to that Minister urgently necessary so to do, may himself remove the structure or carry out the directions.

(7) If within the period specified in a notice under subsection (6) of this section, the person upon whom the notice is served fails to comply with the terms thereof, the Minister for Transport and Power may himself remove the structure to which the notice refers or carry out the directions contained in the notice, as the case may be.

(8) Where under subsection (6) or (7) of this section the Minister for Transport and Power removes any structure referred to in a notice under the said subsection (6) or carries out any direction contained in such a notice, that Minister may recover the expense thereof from the person upon whom the notice was served as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(9) A person who contravenes subsection (1) of this section or fails to comply with a condition subject to which a consent of the Minister for Transport and Power has been given under this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, and

(b) on conviction on indictment to a fine of such amount as the court may consider appropriate.