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1 1970

HEALTH ACT, 1970

PART II

Administration

Chapter I

Health Boards

Establishment of health boards.

4. —(1) For the administration of the health services in the State, the Minister shall after consultation with the Minister for Local Government by regulations establish such number of boards (to be known and in this Act referred to as health boards) as may appear to him to be appropriate, and by such regulations shall specify the title and define the functional area of each health board so established and, subject to subsection (2), shall specify the membership of each health board.

(2) (a) Membership of a health board shall consist of—

(i) persons appointed by the relevant local authorities,

(ii) persons appointed by election by registered medical practitioners and by election by members of such ancillary professions as are specified in the appropriate regulations under subsection (1),

(iii) persons appointed by the Minister.

(b) In a specification of membership of a health board by regulations under this section, the number of persons fulfilling the condition in paragraph (a) (i) shall exceed the total number of other members of the health board.

(c) Paragraph (a) (ii) shall not apply in the case of the first appointments of members of a health board, but the first appointments to a health board under paragraph (a) (iii) shall include appointments made on nominations of bodies which, in the opinion of the Minister, are representative of the medical and ancillary professions or of particular branches thereof.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2) and paragraphs 14 (1) and 16 (2) of the Second Schedule the relevant local authorities shall be each council of a county or corporation of a county borough the functional area of which (or part of the functional area of which) is included in the functional area of the relevant health board and, in the appropriate case, the Corporation of Dún Laoghaire shall be a relevant local authority.

(4) The Minister shall consult the council of a county, the corporation of a county borough or the Corporation of Dún Laoghaire before making regulations under this section which relate to the functional area of the council or corporation concerned.

(5) A draft of regulations which it is proposed to make under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and the regulations shall not be made until a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by each House.

(6) Section 5 (5) of the Health Act, 1947 , shall not apply in respect of regulations under this section.

General provisions regarding health boards.

5. —(1) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to a health board established under this Act:

(a) the board shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession;

(b) the board may sue and be sued in its corporate name and may hold and dispose of land;

(c) the board shall provide and have a common seal and all courts of justice shall take judicial notice of the seal;

(d) notwithstanding anything contained in any other Act, the members of the board who are appointed by the council of a county shall be members of that council and the members of the board who are appointed by the corporation of a county or other borough shall be members of the city or borough council for that borough;

(e) the rules set out in the Second Schedule shall apply in relation to the board.

(2) The Minister may, by order made at the request of a health board, substitute in relation to that board a different rule for any of the following rules set out in the Second Schedule, namely, rules 15, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23.

(3) Where an order is made under subsection (2), the Second Schedule shall apply in relation to the relevant health board with the substitution of the rule set out in the order for the relevant rule in that schedule.

Functions of health boards.

6. —(1) Subject to section 17, a health board shall perform the functions conferred on it under this Act and any other functions which, immediately before its establishment, were performed by a local authority (other than as a sanitary authority) in the functional area of the health board in relation to the operation of services provided under, or in connection with the administration of, the enactments specified in subsection (2).

(2) The enactments referred to in subsection (1) are—

(a) the Health Acts, 1947 to 1966,

(b) the Mental Treatment Acts, 1945 to 1966,

(c) the Births and Deaths Registration Acts, 1863 to 1952,

(d) the Notification of Births Acts, 1907 and 1915,

(e) the Acts relating to the registration of marriages,

(f) the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, 1875 to 1936,

(g) Part I of the Children Act, 1908, and sections 2 and 3 of the Children (Amendment) Act, 1957 ,

(h) the Rats and Mice (Destruction) Act, 1919,

(i) the Blind Persons Act, 1920,

(j) the State Lands (Workhouses) Act, 1930 and the State Lands (Workhouses) Act, 1962 ,

(k) the Registration of Maternity Homes Act, 1934 ,

(l) the Midwives Act, 1944 , as amended by the Nurses Act, 1950 ,

(m) the Adoption Acts, 1952 and 1964,

(n) the Poisons Act, 1961 .

(3) A reference in any enactment (other than the Health Services (Financial Provisions) Act, 1947 ) or any statutory instrument to a health authority shall be construed as a reference to a health board or, if the Minister by order so determines, the chief executive officer of a health board.

(4) Section 10 (1) (a) of the Vital Statistics and Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1952 , is hereby amended by the substitution of “the health board” for “the public assistance authority under the Public Assistance Act, 1939 (No. 27 of 1939),”.

Local committees.

7. —(1) The Minister shall by regulations establish, in relation to the functional area of each health board, such number of committees (each of which shall be known and is in this Act referred to as a local committee) as appears to him to be appropriate.

(2) Regulations under this section shall contain provisions relating to the appointment, tenure of office, disqualification and removal of members of a local committee, the appointment of a chairman and a vice-chairman to a local committee, the holding of meetings and the quorum for and the procedure at meetings of a local committee.

(3) The membership of a local committee shall be specified in regulations under this section and such regulations shall provide for more than half of the members of the committee being persons who are members of the council of the county or county borough for the relevant area and, where appropriate, the Dún Laoghaire Borough Council.

(4) The Minister shall consult each health board, each council of a county, each corporation of a county borough or the Corporation of Dún Laoghaire before making regulations under this section affecting the functional area of the board, council or corporation concerned.

(5) (a) It shall be the principal function of a local committee to advise the health board on the provision by the board of health services in the functional area of the committee, and a health board shall consider any advice so tendered to it.

(b) A local committee shall perform such other functions as may, subject to any limitations specified by the Minister, be delegated to it by the appropriate health board.

Committees of health boards.

8. —(1) A health board may establish such committees as it thinks fit and may, subject to this Act, define the functions and procedure of any such committee and, subject to any limitations specified by the Minister, may delegate specified functions to any such committee.

(2) Membership of a committee appointed under this section may, with the consent of the Minister, include persons who are not members of the board.

Expenses of members of boards and committees.

9. —(1) A health board may make payments to a member of a health board or of a committee established under section 7 or 8 in respect of travelling and subsistence expenses incurred in attending a meeting of the board or of the committee or otherwise in the pursuance of the business of the board.

(2) Payments under this section shall be in accordance with a scale determined by the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance.

Allowances to chairmen and vice-chairmen of health boards.

10. —(1) A health board may, with the consent of the Minister, pay an allowance to its chairman in respect of expenses (other than expenses referred to in section 9) incurred by him in relation to the business of the board.

(2) A health board may, with the consent of the Minister, pay an allowance to its vice-chairman in respect of expenses (other than expenses referred to in section 9) incurred by him in relation to the business of the board.

(3) The amount of an allowance under this section and the nature of the expenses in respect of which it may be paid shall be such as may be approved by the Minister.

Joint action by health boards.

11. —(1) The Minister may by order provide for and authorise joint action by two or more health boards in the performance of any of their functions either in relation to the whole or part of their respective functional areas.

(2) An order under this section may provide for the manner in which the expenses incurred in carrying out the joint action are to be met and for the establishment of a joint board for the purposes of the order.

(3) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to a joint board established under this section:

(a) the board shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession by the name given to it by the order,

(b) the board may sue and be sued in its corporate name,

(c) the board shall have power to hold and dispose of land,

(d) the board shall provide and have a common seal which shall be authenticated by the signature of the chairman or some other member authorised to act in that behalf and the signature of an officer of the board authorised to act in that behalf,

(e) judicial notice shall be taken of the seal of the board and every document purporting to be an order or other instrument made by it and to be sealed with its seal (purporting to be authenticated in accordance with paragraph (d)) shall be received in evidence and be deemed to be that order or instrument without further proof unless the contrary is shown,

(f) the Minister may by order apply to the board any provisions of this Act or of any regulations thereunder, with such modifications or limitations as he thinks fit and specifies by order.

(4) The Minister may by order revoke an order made under this section, and the revoking order shall contain such provisions as the Minister thinks necessary or expedient consequential on the revocation and, in particular, may make provision for—

(a) the dissolution of the joint board and the transfer of the property, rights and liabilities thereof to a health board, to two or more health boards, to another joint board or to two or more other joint boards,

(b) the preservation of continuing contracts made by the dissolved joint board,

(c) the continuance of pending legal proceedings,

(d) the transfer of the holder of an office under the dissolved joint board to a similar office under one of the health boards which appointed the members of the dissolved joint board or under another joint board the functional area of which is coterminous with, includes or is included in that of the dissolved joint board.

(5) Where, under an order under subsection (4), the holder of an office under a joint board is transferred to another office, the first-mentioned office shall, for the purpose of any enactment relating to superannuation, be deemed not to have been abolished.

Removal of board from office.

12. —(1) The Minister may by order remove from office the members of a health board if and whenever—

(a) he is satisfied, after causing a public local inquiry to be held into the board's performance of its duties, that the duties are not being duly and effectually performed,

(b) the board has refused or neglected to comply with a judgement, order or decree of any court,

(c) the board has refused, after due notice, to allow its accounts to be audited by the auditor appointed for that purpose under section 28, or

(d) the members of the board capable of acting are less in number than the quorum for meetings of the board.

(2) Where the Minister makes an order under subsection (1), he shall notify the persons who have been removed from office as members of the board of the making of the order and of his reasons for the removal.

(3) An order under this section shall include such provisions as the Minister considers necessary as a consequence of the removal from office of the members of the health board, including provisions for the discharge by a person or persons appointed by the Minister of the functions performable by the members.

(4) Within two years of the removal from office of the members of a health board under this section, the Minister shall by order provide for a new appointment of members to that board.

(5) For the purpose of appointments under subsection (4), section 4 and the regulations thereunder and the Second Schedule shall apply with any modifications required to permit such appointments to be made and which may be specified in the appropriate order made by the Minister under subsection (4).