Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1995
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Amendment of sections 5, 6 and 12 of Act of 1968. |
5.—(1) The following section is hereby substituted for section 5 of the Act of 1968: | |
“5.—(1) In this section— | ||
‘object or material’ means an object or material which consists of, or is a part of, the sea bed or subsoil in a designated area or is placed in a designated area for the purpose of, or in connection with, the exploration of such sea bed or subsoil or the exploitation of the natural resources thereof; | ||
‘relevant Minister’ means the Minister or the Minister for the Marine, as may be appropriate. | ||
(2) 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 and the Minister for the Marine. | ||
(3) A relevant Minister may, as a condition of considering an application to him 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 accordance with the provisions of this Act. | ||
(4) If the Minister is of opinion that the action in respect of which his consent was sought would not be in the best interests of the orderly and proper use of the designated area concerned, he shall either refuse his consent thereto or grant his consent subject to such conditions as he may think proper. | ||
(5) If the Minister for the Marine is of opinion that the action in respect of which his consent was sought would cause an obstruction or danger to navigation, constitute a risk of pollution to the marine environment or harm living marine resources (within the meaning of the Sea Pollution Act, 1991 ), he shall either refuse his consent thereto or grant his consent subject to such conditions as he may think proper. | ||
(6) (a) Without prejudice to subsections (4) and (5) of this section, a relevant Minister may, on the grant by him of a consent under this section or at any time thereafter, attach to the consent such conditions as he may think proper. | ||
(b) Such conditions may include conditions specifying requirements to be complied with by the grantee during a specified period after the consent has ceased to be in force (including requirements as to the removal of any structure or works concerned) and those conditions shall, accordingly, bind the grantee notwithstanding the cesser of the consent. | ||
(c) A relevant Minister may amend or revoke a condition attached to a consent granted by him under this section. | ||
(d) A consent under this section shall remain in force for such period as the relevant Minister may determine and specify in the consent. | ||
(7) All expenses incurred by a relevant Minister 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 relevant Minister from the person as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction. | ||
(8) 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. | ||
(9) Where a person constructs, alters or improves a structure or works, or removes an object or materials, without the consent under this section of a relevant Minister, being the Minister, or fails to comply with a condition subject to which the consent of that Minister was given under this section and the construction, alteration, improvement, removal or failure is, in the opinion of that Minister, detrimental to the orderly and proper use of the designated area concerned, that Minister may serve a notice on the person requiring him, within a period specified in the notice (being a period of not less than thirty days beginning on the date of the service of the notice), to, as appropriate, remove the structure or works or 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 works or do such other things as he thinks appropriate. | ||
(10) Where a person constructs, alters or improves a structure or works, or removes an object or materials, without the consent under this section of a relevant Minister, being the Minister for the Marine, or fails to comply with a condition subject to which the consent of that Minister was given under this section and the construction, alteration, improvement, removal or failure, in the opinion of that Minister, constitutes an obstruction or danger to navigation or a risk of pollution to the marine environment or is causing or is likely to cause harm to living marine resources (within the meaning of the Sea Pollution Act, 1991 ), that Minister may serve a notice on the person requiring him, within a period specified in the notice (being a period of not less than thirty days beginning on the date of the service of the notice), to, as appropriate, remove the structure or works or 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 works or do such other things as he thinks appropriate. | ||
(11) If within the period specified in a notice under subsection (9) or (10) of this section, the person upon whom the notice is served fails to comply with the terms thereof, the relevant Minister may himself remove the structure or works to which the notice refers or carry out the directions contained in the notice, as the case may be. | ||
(12) Where under subsection (9), (10) or (11) of this section a relevant Minister removes any structure or works referred to in a notice under the said subsection (9) or (10), as the case may be, carries out any direction contained in such a notice or does any other thing, 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. | ||
(13) A person who contravenes subsection (2) of this section or fails to comply with a condition subject to which a consent of a relevant Minister has been given under this section (including a condition referred to in subsection (6)(b)) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable— | ||
(a) on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifteen hundred pounds, and | ||
(b) on conviction on indictment to a fine of such amount as the court may consider appropriate.”. | ||
(2) A consent given under section 5 of the Act of 1968 before the passing of this Act shall continue in force and be deemed to have been given by the Minister for the Marine under section 5 (inserted by subsection (1)) of the Act of 1968. | ||
(3) Section 6 of the Act of 1968 is hereby amended— | ||
(a) by the substitution of the following subsections for subsections (1) and (2): | ||
“(1) The Minister may, for the purposes of protecting any installation in a designated area or in the vicinity of a designated area, with the consent of the Minister for the Marine, by order, subject to any exceptions provided by the order, prohibit ships generally or a specified class or classes of ship from entering without his consent— | ||
(a) a specified part of that designated area, or | ||
(b) a specified area outside that designated area. | ||
(2) If a ship enters part of a designated area or an area outside a designated area in contravention of an order under this section, its owner and master shall each be guilty of an offence unless it is proved that the prohibition imposed by the order was not, and would not on reasonable inquiry have become, known to the master.”, | ||
and | ||
(b) by the substitution in paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of “fifteen hundred pounds” for “one hundred pounds”, | ||
and the said paragraph (a), as so amended, is set out in the Table to this section. | ||
(4) Section 12 of the Act of 1968 is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1): | ||
“(1) Whenever the Minister or the Minister for the Marine proposes to hold an inquiry under this Act, notice of the holding thereof shall be given in such manner as the Minister or the Minister for the Marine (as the case may be) directs.”. | ||
TABLE | ||
(a) on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifteen hundred pounds or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to both the fine and the imprisonment, and |