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8 1994

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1994

PART XI

Miscellaneous

Discharge of certain functions by Minister.

61. —(1) The Minister may by instrument under the Minister's hand or seal delegate to a named officer or to an officer of a specified grade, position or description any function of the Minister specified in the delegation and may revoke the delegation.

(2) A delegation is without prejudice to the right of the Minister to exercise the function.

(3) Every delegated function shall be exercisable and performed by the delegated officer subject to the general superintendence and control of the Minister and to such limitations (if any) as may be specified in the delegation or which may be specified by the Minister at any time thereafter.

(4) In this section, an officer means an officer of the Minister who is an established civil servant for the purposes of the Civil Service Regulation Act, 1956 .

Cesser of Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act, 1854 in certain areas.

62. —(1) The Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act, 1854, (“the Act of 1854”) shall cease to apply to the relevant areas referred to in subsection (4) and accordingly separate local authority estimates shall no longer be prepared in respect of such areas.

(2) The successor for all purposes of town commissioners established under the Act of 1854 in respect of the relevant areas shall in each case be the council of the county which includes the particular area and all land and other property of the said commissioners shall vest in the council without any conveyance or transfer.

(3) The use of any or all of the relevant areas or of areas generally to which the Act of 1854 applied immediately before the commencement of this section by any other enactment for the purposes of defining the area of application or operation of such enactment or for any similar or related purpose shall not be affected by the cesser of application effected by subsection (1) save as may be otherwise so provided by regulations made under this subsection by the Minister responsible for the particular enactment in question and every such enactment shall be subject to and shall have effect in accordance with any such regulations.

(4) The relevant areas for the purpose of this section are the areas of Callan, Fethard, Newcastle West, Rathkeale, Roscommon and Tullow to which the Act of 1854 applies.

Electoral divisions.

63. —(1) The Minister may by regulations divide the area of any county, county or other borough, urban district or town into areas to be known as electoral divisions and may vary the name of any such division or make adjustments to the boundaries of any such division or divisions.

(2) Where, immediately before the commencement of this section, any county, county or other borough or urban district, stood divided into areas known as district electoral divisions or wards, those areas shall continue in force but on and from such commencement they shall be known as electoral divisions.

(3) Any reference in any enactment to a district electoral division or a ward, in relation to a county, county or other borough or urban district shall be construed as a reference to an electoral division.

Local authority associations.

64. —(1) A local authority may hold membership of an association of local authorities referred to at subsection (2).

(2) An association of local authorities means, for the purposes of this section, the General Council of County Councils and the Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland or any other body which may be established in place of either or both of those bodies, the membership of such association being constituted by local authorities and the general function of such association being to represent the collective interests of the local authorities which constitute its membership (hereinafter referred to as “constituent authorities”).

(3) An association of local authorities shall operate in accordance with a constitution adopted by such association.

(4) Without prejudice to any other provisions which may be included in a constitution or other rules or standing orders of an association, the constitution of an association of local authorities shall set out the general functions and objectives of the association and provide for the adoption by the association of annual estimates of expenditure and income, for the keeping of all proper and sufficient accounts of all moneys received or expended by it and of its assets and liabilities, for the audit of such accounts, for the adoption of an annual report on the performance of its functions and for such other matters as are necessary to give effect to its function of representing the collective interests of its constituent authorities and to give effect to the matters set out in subsection (5).

(5) Where a local authority holds membership of an association of local authorities, the following provisions shall apply:

(a) the local authority may elect such number of delegates to the association as may be specified in the constitution of that association;

(b) the local authority may make annual contributions to the funds of that association;

(c) the association shall provide the local authority with a copy of its constitution and shall consult the local authority regarding any proposed changes in the constitution;

(d) the association shall, prior to the adoption of its annual estimates, provide the local authority with a copy of its draft estimates, with a copy of the estimates when adopted and with a copy of the audited accounts, annual report and such other reports or statements of the association as may be appropriate;

(e) for the purpose of paragraph (d) the annual estimates shall set out the principal categories of expenditure and income and shall indicate how these relate to the association's estimated financial requirements for the relevant period.

(6) An association of local authorities may carry out such activities as are necessary to represent the collective interests of the local authorities which constitute its membership including the making of submissions to the Minister or other public authorities as regards any matter relating to local government.

(7) An association of local authorities shall, for the purposes of this section, in the course of its activities have regard to—

(a) its general function of representing the collective interests of its constituent authorities,

(b) the promotion of the interests generally of local government and of democratic representation of local communities,

(c) the likely costs and ensuing benefits of its activities,

(d) the need for effectiveness, efficiency and economy and to minimise demands on the resources of its constituent authorities, and

(e) any submissions made to it by a constituent authority or by the Minister.

(8) The decision to hold or to cease to hold membership of an association of local authorities shall be a reserved function.

(9) In each local financial year the amounts estimated as necessary to meet any expenses and provide for any liabilities and requirements of a local authority under this section during the following financial year shall be shown separately in a form directed by the Minister in the estimate of expenses, within the meaning of section 9 of the Act of 1955, of the local authority.

(10) There shall be recorded in the annual report of a local authority for any year particulars of any expenses incurred under this section, and any other relevant particulars relating to membership of an association of local authorities.

(11) The Minister may specify the nature of contributions which may be made under subsection (5) (b) or may make regulations for the purposes of any other matter referred to in this section or of any matter relating to or arising from membership by a local authority of an association of local authorities.

(12) A reference in any enactment to “the association of county councils of Ireland”, “the Irish County Councils General Council” or “the County Councils' General Council” or to any analogous expression shall be construed as a reference to the General Council of County Councils as referred to in subsection (2).

(13) The provisions of this section shall not prejudice the right of any member of a local authority to be a member in his or her own right of a local authority members' association or of the right of any group of such members to appoint a person to represent them on such an association.

Records and archives of local authorities.

65. —(1) It shall be a function of a local authority, subject to the provisions of this section, to make arrangements for the proper management, custody, care and conservation of local records and local archives and for inspection by the public of local archives.

(2) A local authority may acquire, by purchase, donation, bequest or loan, and undertake the care and conservation of, archival material of local interest which is in the possession of any other person or body (including another local authority).

(3) The Minister may, after consultation with the Director of the National Archives, give advice or directions to local authorities in relation to any matter relating to local records and local archives and, in particular and without prejudice to the foregoing, in relation to—

(a) the retention, management, preservation, restoration and reproduction of local records and local archives,

(b) the certification of local records to be unsuitable for classification as local archives, and the review of such certification at specified intervals,

(c) the availability of local archives for public inspection,

(d) the making and provision of copies and extracts from local archives,

(e) circumstances in which local archives, or particular classes of local archives, may be withheld from public inspection,

(f) the preparation of guides, lists, indexes and finding aids to local archives,

(g) the lending of local archives to appropriate institutions, bodies and societies, whether in the State or elsewhere, and

(h) the disposal of local records and local archives.

(4) (a) In this section, “local records” includes books, maps, plans, drawings, papers, files, photographs, films, microfilms and other micrographic records, sound recordings, pictorial records, magnetic tapes, magnetic discs, optical or video discs, other machine-readable records, other documentary or processed material made or received, and held in the course of its business or as successor to any other body by a local authority and includes copies of any such records duly made, but does not include—

(i) grants, deeds or other documents of title relating to property for the time being vested in the local authority and

(ii) any part of the permanent collection of a library, museum or gallery.

(b) In this section, “local archives” includes—

(i) such records and documents (and copies of them) as are, at the commencement of this section, held by any local archives service operated by any local authority (whether alone or in co-operation with another person or body);

(ii) archival material acquired by a local authority pursuant to subsection (2);

(iii) other local records which are more than 30 years old, except such records as are certified, in accordance with directions under subsection (3), to be unsuitable for classification as local archives.

(5) Section 13 of the National Archives Act, 1986 shall cease to have effect in relation to records or documents of a local authority.

(6) Without prejudice to subsection (3), the National Archives Advisory Council may advise the Minister on any matter affecting local archives and their use by the public.

(7) Nothing in this section shall affect any rights of a person claiming to be the owner of a document to recover the document.

(8) The making or supplying of reproductions by or under the direction of a local authority of archives which are held in accordance with this section and are open to public inspection shall not, subject to any terms or conditions under which archival material was acquired under subsection (2), infringe the copyright of such archives.

(9) A person shall not conceal, damage or destroy archives held in accordance with this section and shall not remove, publish or reproduce the whole or any part of any such archives without the written consent of the relevant local authority.

(10) A person who contravenes subsection (9) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000.

Removal of difficulties.

66. —If in any respect any difficulty arises in bringing any provision of this Act into operation or in relation to the operation of any such provision, the Minister may by regulations do anything which appears to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of removing that difficulty, for bringing that provision into operation or for securing or facilitating its operation and any such regulations may modify any provision of this Act or any other enactment so far as may be necessary or expedient for the purposes aforesaid but no regulations shall be made under this section in relation to a provision of this Act after the expiration of 3 years from the commencement of that provision.

Amendment of sections 76 to 79 of the Act of 1946.

67. —(1) Sections 76 to 79 of the Local Government Act, 1946 (amended by section 53 of the Local Government Act, 1955 ) are hereby amended by the substitution of—

(a) “the majority of the qualified electors” for “four-sevenths of the ratepayers”, and

(b) “qualified electors” for “ratepayers”,

wherever the expressions occur in the said sections.

(2) For the purposes of the said sections, “qualified electors” means every person who in relation to the urban district, town, townland, non-municipal town, street or locality, as the case may be—

(a) is registered as a local government elector in the register of local government electors for the time being in force, or

(b) not being so registered is the rated occupier of a hereditament other than a hereditament the valuation of which attracts an allowance equal to full abatement of rates pursuant to section 3 of the Local Government (Financial Provisions) Act, 1978 .

Expenses.

68. —(1) The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

(2) Expenses under this Act of a local authority being the council of a county shall, save as may be otherwise prescribed, be charged on the county (exclusive of any borough or urban district therein).