Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2021

Miscellaneous amendments to Act of 1947

4. The Act of 1947 is amended—

(a) in section 2, by the insertion of the following definitions:

“ ‘cessation order’ has the meaning assigned to it in section 31AH;

‘compliance notice’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 31AG;

‘compliance officer’ means a person designated as a compliance officer under section 31AD;

‘Covid-19’ has the meaning it has in section 31A;

‘Digital Covid Certificate Regulation’ means Regulation (EU) 2021/953 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 20211 on a framework for the issuance, verification and acceptance of interoperable COVID-19 vaccination, test and recovery certificates (EU Digital COVID Certificate) to facilitate free movement during the COVID-19 pandemic;

‘emergency cessation order’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 31AF;

‘EU Digital Covid Certificate’ has the meaning it has in the Digital Covid Certificate Regulation;

‘indoor operator’ means—

(a) in relation to a relevant indoor premises subject to a licence for the sale by retail of intoxicating liquor for consumption on or off the premises (whether granted on production or without production of a certificate of the Circuit Court or District Court), the holder of such a licence,

(b) in relation to a relevant indoor premises registered under the Registration of Clubs Acts 1904 to 2008, every person whose name is entered in the register of clubs as an official or member of its committee of management or governing body at the material time,

(c) in relation to a relevant indoor premises other than those referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b)—

(i) the occupier of the premises,

(ii) the manager of the premises, or

(iii) any other person for the time being in charge of the premises;

‘permitted person’ means—

(a) a person in possession of a proof of immunity relating to that person,

(b) a person under the age of 18 years, or such other age under the age of 18 years as may be prescribed, (in this paragraph referred to as a ‘relevant minor’) who accesses a relevant indoor premises—

(i) accompanied by his or her parent, guardian or a person acting in loco parentis, or

(ii) on such terms (including terms requiring the relevant minor to be accompanied by one or more other persons other than his or her parent or guardian or person acting in loco parentis) as may be prescribed,

(c) a person in or at a relevant indoor premises in a professional capacity, in the course of their employment, or in fulfilment of a contract for services, other than a class or classes of person, that the Minister may prescribe as being persons to whom this paragraph of this definition does not apply, or

(d) a person that stands, or a member of a class of persons that stand, prescribed by the Minister in regulations made under section 31AB(4);

‘proof of immunity’ means—

(a) an EU Digital Covid Certificate—

(i) issued under Article 6(1)(a) of the Digital Covid Certificate Regulation stating or verifying that the person has received a full dose of a vaccine approved for use in the European Union,

(ii) issued under Article 6(1)(c) of the Digital Covid Certificate Regulation, or

(iii) of a type prescribed by the Minister in regulations made under section 31AB(4),

(b) a document as may be prescribed, in written or electronic form, issued by a body implementing a vaccination programme (howsoever described) on behalf of a state (including the State) that administered or caused to be administered the vaccination to the person concerned, verifying, in relation to the person to whom the document is issued, that the person has received such vaccination, or combination of vaccinations, as may be prescribed, including—

(i) the medicinal product for active immunisation to prevent Covid-19 known as ‘COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna CX-024414’,

(ii) the medicinal product for active immunisation to prevent Covid-19 known as ‘Vaxzevria (previously COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca) ChAdOx1-SARS-COV-2’ also known as ‘Covishield’,

(iii) the medicinal product for active immunisation to prevent Covid-19 known as ‘Comirnaty BNT162b2’, and

(iv) the medicinal product for active immunisation to prevent Covid-19 known as ‘COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen (Ad26. COV2-S [recombinant])’,

or

(c) any form of written information or proof verifying, in such manner as may be prescribed, in relation to the person to whom the document is issued, that the person has recovered from Covid-19;

‘relevant body’ means—

(a) the Health Service Executive,

(b) the Health and Safety Authority, and

(c) such other body as may be prescribed;

‘relevant indoor premises’ means an indoor premises (or, where a premises is partly indoors and partly outdoors, the indoor part of such premises), other than a premises prescribed in regulations under section 31AB(4)(e)(ii) as being a premises to which this definition does not apply—

(a) on or at which food or non-alcoholic beverages may be lawfully sold or supplied for consumption on such premises,

(b) where a business or service that, but for this Act or any regulations made under this Act, is permitted by law to sell or supply intoxicating liquor for consumption on the premises, is lawfully carried on or otherwise provided, or

(c) such other indoor premises, or class of indoor premises, that stands prescribed by the Minister in regulations under section 31AB(4);”,

(b) by the insertion of the following sections after section 9:

“Liability for offences by bodies corporate

9A. (1) Where an offence under this Act is committed by a body corporate and it is proved that the offence was committed with the consent or connivance, or was attributable to any wilful neglect, of a person who was a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, or a person purporting to act in that capacity, that person shall, as well as the body corporate, be guilty of an offence and may be proceeded against and punished as if he or she were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.

(2) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (1) shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his or her functions of management as if he or she were a director or manager of the body corporate.

Exercise of jurisdiction by District Court and Circuit Court under sections 31AB to 31AK

9B. (1) The jurisdiction of the District Court under sections 31AB to 31AK shall be exercised by a judge of the District Court for the time being assigned to the District Court district in which the relevant indoor premises are situate.

(2) The jurisdiction of the Circuit Court under sections 31AB to 31AK shall be exercised by a judge of the Circuit Court for the time being assigned to the circuit in which the relevant indoor premises are situate.

Service of documents

9C. (1) Subject to subsection (2) and other than in relation to Part VIII, a notice or other document that is required to be served on or given to a person by this Act shall be addressed to the person by name and may be so served on or given to the person in one of the following ways:

(a) by delivering it to the person;

(b) by leaving it at the address at which the person ordinarily resides or carries on business or, in a case in which an address for service has been given, at that address;

(c) by sending it by post in a prepaid registered letter to the address at which the person ordinarily resides or carries on business or, in a case in which an address for service has been given, to that address;

(d) by electronic means, in a case in which the person has given notice in writing to the person serving or giving the notice or document concerned of his or her consent to the notice or document (or documents of a class to which the notice or document belongs) being served on, or given to, him or her in that manner.

(2) A notice or other document that is required to be served on or given to an indoor operator by this Act shall, where the indoor operator concerned falls within the meaning of paragraph (b) of the definition of ‘indoor operator’, be addressed to every person entered in the register of clubs as an official or member of its committee of management or governing body at the material time by name and may be so served or given by leaving the notice or other document at the address of the premises to which the certificate of registration under the Registration of Clubs Acts 1904 to 2008 applies as entered in that register.

(3) For the purpose of this Act, a company registered under the Companies Act 2014 is deemed to be ordinarily resident at its registered office, and every other body corporate and every unincorporated body of persons shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its principal office or place of business.”,

and

(c) in section 31A—

(i) in subsection (6)(a), by the substitution of “subject to section 31AB, contravenes” for “contravenes”, and

(ii) by the deletion of subsection (15).

1 OJ No. L 211, 15.06.2021, p. 1