PART V.

MISCELLANEOUS AND GENERAL.

57. —(1) Sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, shall cease to have effect from and after the election of county councillors held next after the passing of this Act.

(2) At any triennial election of members of a county council held after the passing of this Act, the number of members to be elected to the county council shall be increased by a number equal to twice the number of rural districts in existence in such county on the appointed day.

(3) No person shall be qualified to be elected a member of a county council for a county electoral area unless he is either—

(a) registered as a local government elector in so much of the register of local government electors as relates to such county electoral area, or

(b) the owner of property held by freehold, leasehold, or other tenure within such county electoral area.

58. —(1) A county council may from time to time appoint such and so many committees as they think fit for purposes connected with the exercise or performance of any of their powers, duties, and functions which in the opinion of the council would be better or more conveniently regulated or managed by or through a committee.

(2) A committee appointed under this section may be either a general committee empowered to exercise or perform powers, duties, and functions in relation to the whole of the county or a local committee empowered to exercise or perform powers, duties, and functions in relation to a limited portion only of the county.

(3) Every committee appointed under this section shall consist of not less than three members, and may be composed either wholly of members of the council or partly of such members and partly of other persons.

(4) The acts of every committee appointed under this section shall be subject to confirmation by the council save that the council may with the sanction of the Minister empower any particular committee to do any act (including the institution of legal proceedings) within the authority conferred on the committee by the council which the council itself could lawfully do.

(5) The quorum, procedure, and place of meeting of any committee appointed under this section and the area (if any) within which any such committee is to exercise its functions, shall be such as may be appointed by regulations to be made by the council with the approval of the Minister.

(6) Save as is authorised by this section or otherwise by law it shall not be lawful for a county council to delegate any of its powers or duties to a committee.

59. —(1) The Public Health and Local Government Conferences Act, 1885, shall be construed and have effect as if the expression “local authority” in that Act had the same meaning as in this Act.

(2) The amount of any expenses incurred under the Public Health and Local Government Conferences Act, 1885, by any local authority other than a sanitary authority shall be paid and charged as part of the general expenses of such local authority in the performance of its duties.

60. —(1) If any person knowingly acts as a member of a local authority when disqualified, or knowingly votes when prohibited by or under any enactment, he shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds for each such offence, without prejudice to any other disqualification or penalty therefor.

(2) In a prosecution for an offence under this Act where the fact of the defendant acting as member of a local authority when disqualified or voting when prohibited is proved, the onus of proof shall lie on the defendant that he did not so act or vote knowingly.

(3) An offence under this section may be prosecuted by or at the suit of the Minister.

(4) If any person is, after the passing of this Act, convicted of acting as a member of a local authority when disqualified, he shall be disqualified for a period of ten years from the date of such conviction for being elected or appointed to any paid office under or in the gift of any local authority.

61. —(1) In this section the expression “responsible officer of a local authority” means in relation to any meeting of such local authority, the secretary, clerk, resident medical superintendent, or other chief executive officer of such local authority if he is present at such meeting, or in case such secretary, clerk, superintendent, or chief executive officer is not present at such meeting, any other officer of such local authority acting in his stead at such meeting.

(2) Whenever a proposal is made at a meeting of a local authority to do any act, matter, or thing in consequence of which an illegal payment is to be made out of the funds of the local authority, or a deficiency or loss is likely to result in or to such funds, it shall be the duty of the responsible officer of the local authority to make objection to the doing of such act, matter, or thing, and to state the grounds of such objection which objection and the grounds thereof, and, if a decision is taken on such proposal, the names of the members present and voting for and against such decision and abstaining from voting on such decision, shall be recorded on the minutes of such meeting.

(3) Sub-section (1) of section 20 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1902, shall be amended by the substitution therein of the words “any member or officer of such public body” for the words “any person accounting.”

62. —(1) When any portion of any sum charged or surcharged by an auditor of the accounts of any local authority upon or against any person remains unpaid, such person shall, on and after the date hereinafter prescribed, be disqualified for being elected or chosen or being a member of any local authority until the sum so charged or surcharged is paid.

(2) If no appeal is taken from the charge or surcharge aforesaid, the disqualification under this section shall commence on the expiration of the time limited for such appeal.

(3) If an appeal is taken from the charge or surcharge aforesaid to the Minister or the High Court, and on such appeal the Minister or the High Court decides the charge or surcharge was lawfully made and (in the case of an appeal to the Minister) is to be enforced, the disqualification under this section shall commence on the expiration of one month from the date of the order determining such appeal.

63. —(1) In this section the expression “county authority” means a county council, a board of health, or a committee or joint committee of a district mental hospital, and the expression “authorised committee” means a committee appointed by a county authority and to the members of which the Minister, on the application of the county authority, authorises contributions to be paid under this section.

(2) Every county authority shall as soon as may be after the 31st day of March and the 30th day of September in each year pay to—

(a) every member of the county authority who has attended at least three-quarters of the meetings of such county authority held during the preceding six months, and

(b) every member of an authorised committee appointed by the county authority who has attended at least three-quarters of the meetings of that authorised committee held during the preceding six months,

such contribution (if any) as is authorised by the rules contained in the Fifth Schedule to this Act towards the expenses incurred by such member in attending the meetings of such county authority or authorised committee (as the case may be) during such preceding six months.

(3) For the purposes of this section a member shall not be deemed to have attended a meeting unless he shall have been present at such meeting for at least three hours, or where such meeting was held only for a period less than three hours, during the whole of such period.

(4) No contribution shall be paid under this section in respect of any meeting of a county authority or committee thereof which took place before the election of members to such county authority held next after the passing of this Act.

(5) Any person who knowingly makes or allows to be made a false statement for the purpose of obtaining the payment to himself or another of a sum under or in pursuance of this section, shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, or at the discretion of the court to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding one year.

(6) Any person who is convicted of an offence under this section shall thereafter be disqualified from being elected or being a member of any local authority and from being appointed to or holding any office or employment under any local authority.

64. —Whenever a meeting of a local authority is abandoned owing to failure to obtain a quorum, the names of the members attending at the time and place appointed for such meeting shall be recorded forthwith, and for the purposes of any enactment relating to disqualification for membership of a local authority and for the purposes of section 63 of this Act and of the rules contained in the Fifth Schedule to this Act, a meeting of such local authority shall be deemed to have been held at such time and place, and the members whose names are so recorded shall be deemed to have attended such meeting.

65. —(1) The council of any county shall have power by resolution to adopt the Public Libraries (Ireland) Act, 1855, for the whole or any specified parts or part of their county, exclusive of any urban district.

(2) When a resolution is passed by the council of a county under this section, the Public Libraries (Ireland) Acts, 1855 to 1920, shall, as respects the area for which the said Act is adopted by the resolution, be carried into execution by the council as the library authority of that area.

(3) The expenses incurred by the council of a county as library authority in pursuance of a resolution under this section shall be charged on the area for which the said Act is adopted by such resolution.

(4) The council of any county may arrange with the council of any urban district in such county or of any county borough adjoining such county for the use for all or any of the purposes of the said Acts by the whole or some specified part of the county of any part of the building or of the library facilities of any public library situate in such urban district or county borough on such terms as may be agreed upon between the council of the urban district or county borough in which such library is situate and the council of such county.

(5) The powers given by the last preceding sub-section shall be without prejudice and in addition to, not in derogation from, the powers given by section 3 of the Public Libraries (Ireland) Act, 1894 (as amended or extended by any other enactment, including this section), by section 4 of the said Act and by the next succeeding sub-section of this section.

(6) The council of any urban district may on such terms as may be agreed on between such council and the council of the county in which such district is situate and be approved of by the Minister, relinquish in favour of the council of such county, their powers and duties under the Public Libraries (Ireland) Acts, 1855 to 1920, and in that case the powers and duties so relinquished shall cease and the provisions of this Part of this Act shall have effect as if the council of the county had passed a resolution under this section adopting the Public Libraries (Ireland) Act, 1855, for the area of such urban district.

(7) Whenever a county council is the library authority for two or more separate areas in their county, and any expenses incurred by such county council as library authority are charged on each such area respectively, the county council may, with the consent of the Minister, amalgamate such areas, and any expenses incurred thereafter by the county council as library authority for such amalgamated area shall be charged on such amalgamated area.

66. —The powers of a library authority under the Public Libraries (Ireland) Acts, 1855-1920, shall include power to incur expenditure out of the library rate on the provision of public lectures and exhibitions (whether admission to such lectures or exhibitions is free or subject to such charges and conditions as the library authority may determine) and libraries in schools.

67. —(1) The council of any county, county or other borough or urban district, or the commissioners of any town may, either alone or jointly or in combination with any one or more other such councils or commissioners, advertise and may expend money in advertising, by the insertion of advertisements in newspapers or by means of posters, placards or otherwise as they think fit, the advantages and amenities as a health or pleasure resort of such county or any part thereof, borough, district or town, or, in the case of joint or combined advertisements of an area comprising the whole or any parts of the respective counties, boroughs, districts and towns of the several councils or commissioners so joining or combining.

(2) The council of any county, county or other borough or urban district or the commissioners of any town may with the approval of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health pay such annual or other contribution as they think fit to the funds of any association—

(a) formed for the purpose of advertising the advantages and amenities of places in Saorstát Eireann or any part thereof as health or pleasure resorts, and

(b) approved by the Minister for Industry and Commerce, and

(c) required by that Minister as a condition of his approval to have its accounts audited by an auditor of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health:

Provided always that every contribution made under this sub-section to the funds of any such association shall be expended by such association in accordance with a scheme approved by the Minister for Industry and Commerce, and not otherwise.

(3) The expenses incurred under this section—

(a) in the case of the council of a county, shall be defrayed out of the county funds and raised by means of the poor rate as a county at large charge, and

(b) in the case of the council of a county or other borough or of an urban district, shall be defrayed out of any rate or fund applicable to the purposes of the Public Health (Ireland) Acts, 1878 to 1919, in like manner as if they had been incurred for the purposes of those Acts, and

(c) in the case of the commissioners of a town, shall be raised by means of the rate levied by them under section 60 of the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act, 1854, but shall be excluded in ascertaining any limit imposed by law upon such rate.

(4) The amount of the rate raised by the council of any county or county borough for the purposes of this section shall not exceed one penny in the pound, and the amount of the rate raised for the purposes of this section by the council of any borough, other than a county borough, or of any urban district or by the commissioners of any town together with the amount of the rate raised for the said purposes by the council of the county in which such borough, district or town is situate, shall not exceed three pence in the pound.

68. —(1) Any provisional order made by the Minister under the provisions of the Public Health (Ireland) Acts, 1878 to 1919, or of section 10 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, after the holding of such a local inquiry as is mentioned in sub-section (4) of section 203 of the Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1878, empowering a local authority to acquire land or other property or rights otherwise than by agreement, may be confirmed by the Minister or the Circuit Court in accordance with the rules set out in the Sixth Schedule to this Act.

(2) Not less than one week before confirming an order under this section the Minister shall cause notice of his intention to confirm such order to be published in a newspaper circulating in the district where the land or property sought to be acquired or over or in relation to which rights are sought to be acquired is situate.

(3) Upon any such confirmation by the Minister or the Circuit Court, the Order, and if amended, as so amended, shall become final, and have the effect of an Act of the Oireachtas, and (subject in the case of a confirmation by the Minister to proof that the notice required by this section was duly published) the confirmation by the Minister or the Circuit Court shall be conclusive evidence that the requirements of this Act have been complied with and that the order has been duly made and is within the powers of the Public Health (Ireland) Acts, 1878 to 1919, or the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, as the case may be.

69. —(1) In this section the expression “new building” means either—

(a) a building, the erection of which was or shall have been begun and completed during the period from the 1st day of April, 1920, to the 1st day of April, 1927, or

(b) a building, the structure of which has been substantially enlarged or improved and such enlargement or improvement was or shall have been begun and completed during the period aforesaid;

The expression “exemption year” means—

(i) in relation to any new building which is exempt from revaluation under the provisions of section 7 of the Dublin Reconstruction (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1916—any of the local financial years between the 1st day of April, 1929, and the 31st day of March, 1933;

(ii) in relation to any new building which is exempt from revaluation under the provisions of section 8 of the Dublin Reconstruction (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1924 —any of the local financial years between the 1st day of April, 1930, and the 31st day of March, 1933;

(iii) in relation to any other new building—any of the local financial years between the 1st day of April, 1926, and the 31st day of March, 1933.

(2) For the purposes of the assessment and levying of any rate raised by a local authority for the service of any exemption year, and subject to the provisions of sub-section (3) of this section, the valuation of every new building under the Valuation Acts shall be deemed to have been reduced by two-thirds.

(3) The preceding sub-section shall not have effect in the case of any house erected under the Housing of the Working Classes (Ireland) Acts, 1890 to 1921, the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1919, or the Housing (Building Facilities) Act, 1924 , the rates leviable in respect of which have been remitted in part under the provisions of section 7 of that Act.

(4) The rateable valuation of any building for the purpose of ascertaining the limit imposed by any statute on the amount of borrowing by a local authority shall not be deemed to be reduced by virtue of this section.

(5) If any doubt, dispute or question shall arise as to whether a building is a new building within the meaning of this section such doubt, dispute or question shall be determined by the Minister, whose decision shall be final.

70. —(1) No person shall hold any office of profit under or be employed for remuneration by or under any local authority from and after the holding of the election or appointment of members to such local authority held next after the passing of this Act while he is or within twelve months after he has ceased to be a member of such local authority, or of any other local authority whose functional area is, or is situate in, the same county or county borough as that of or within which is situate the functional area of such local authority or in any county or county borough adjoining to that county or county borough.

(2) Any member of a local authority whose membership is terminated by his resignation or otherwise, at or before the next election or appointment of members to such local authority after the passing of this Act shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to have ceased to be a member of such local authority on a date twelve months prior to the date of such election.

71. —(1) Where after the passing of this Act a local authority passes a resolution either appointing a person to be an officer of that local authority or increasing the salary or emoluments of an officer of that local authority, such resolution—

(a) shall have no effect until such person or officer shall within one month after the date of such resolution have made and subscribed a declaration in accordance with this section, and

(b) shall be wholly void if such person or officer fails to make and subscribe such declaration within such period of one month.

(2) The declaration to be made as aforesaid by such person or officer as aforesaid shall be made and subscribed by him before a Peace Commissioner and shall be in the following form:—

The _________________________________ (Set out the name of the local authority) having on the         day of                   19 _____, passed a resolution appointing me A.B. to the office of ________________________________ (or increasing my salary or emoluments as ________________ as the case may require), I, the said A.B., do hereby solemnly and sincerely declare that I will bear allegiance to the Irish Free State and its constitution as by law established and that, in the event of such appointment being (or whether such increase is or is not as the case may require) confirmed by the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, I will to the best of my judgment and ability duly and faithfully perform the duties of the (or my as the case may require) said office and will observe and obey such orders and directions in relation to such duties as shall lawfully be given to me.

(3) Nothing in this section shall prejudice or effect the operation of any enactment requiring the sanction or confirmation of any such resolution as aforesaid by the Minister for Local Government and Public Health.

72. —(1) The Minister may at any time if he thinks fit, order a local inquiry into the performance of its duties by any local authority, and Article 32 of the Schedule to the Local Government (Application of Enactments) Order, 1898, shall apply to every such local inquiry.

(2) If and whenever—

(a) the Minister is satisfied, after the holding of such a local inquiry as is mentioned in the foregoing sub-section, that the duties of a local authority are not being duly and effectually discharged by such local authority, or

(b) a local authority wilfully neglects to comply with any lawful order, direction, or regulation of the Minister, or

(c) a local authority fails to comply with any judgment, order, or decree of any court in Saorstát Eireann, or

(d) a local authority refuses after due notice to allow its accounts to be audited by an auditor of the Minister,

the Minister may, by order, dissolve such local authority, and either order (under the power hereinafter conferred on him) a new election of members of such local authority or transfer the property and the several powers and duties of such local authority to any body or persons or person he shall think fit.

(3) Whenever the Minister makes an order under this section dissolving a local authority, he may appoint such and so many persons as he shall think fit to perform the duties of such local authority, and may from time to time remove all or any such persons and appoint others in their place, and may fix the tenure of office, duties, and remuneration of all such persons.

(4) The remuneration of all persons appointed under the foregoing sub-section shall be paid out of the revenue of such local authority as part of its expenses.

(5) Not later than three years after a local authority has been dissolved under this section, the Minister shall by order cause a new election of members of such local authority to be held, and upon the completion of such new election all the property, powers, and duties of the dissolved local authority shall vest in the body so elected, notwithstanding that the same may have been transferred by the Minister under this section to any other body, persons, or person.

(6) The Minister may from time to time by order do all such things and make all such regulations as in his opinion shall be necessary for giving full effect to any order made by him under this section.

(7) Every order made by the Minister or by the Minister for Local Government under section 12 of the Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1923 (No. 9 of 1923), shall, notwithstanding the repeal of that section by this Act, continue in force as if such order had been made by the Minister under this section, and the provisions of this section shall apply to every such order as if the same had been made under this section.

73. —(1) A county or borough council may with the consent of the Minister delegate to such person or persons as the Minister shall from time to time appoint for the purpose, all or any part of its powers, duties and functions (including all or any of the powers, duties and functions of a board of health) and such powers, duties and functions shall thereupon be exercised and performed by such person or persons until the holding of the next triennial election of county councillors.

(2) The remuneration of any person appointed under this section shall be paid as part of the general expenses of such council.

74. —(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Minister may by order add any urban district not being a borough to a county health district adjoining and in the same county as such urban district, and from and after the date on which such order comes into operation such urban district shall be part of such county health district as aforesaid.

(2) Where any urban district is, by an order made under this section, added to a county health district, such urban district shall be deemed to be a town in which the provisions of the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act, 1854, have been adopted in whole, and until the next election of commissioners of towns the council of such urban district shall be the board of commissioners of such town.

(3) Subject to the provisions of this section the Minister may by order dissolve the board of commissioners of any town and transfer the powers, duties, property, and liabilities of such board to the board of health of the county health district of which such town is a part.

(4) No order shall be made by the Minister under this section adding an urban district to a county health district or dissolving a board of commissioners of a town unless either—

(a) the council of such urban district or the board of commissioners of such town as the case may be applies to the Minister to make such order, or

(b) the Minister is satisfied, after the holding of a local inquiry into the performance of the duties of such council or board, as the case may be, that such duties are not being duly and effectually performed.

(5) Any order made under this section shall contain such provisions as may seem necessary or expedient for adapting the provisions relating to public works contained in any enactment, and for making adjustments of property, rights, and liabilities.

(6) Any order made under this section in respect of an urban district may declare the whole or any part or parts of the indebtedness of such urban district to be payable by the county health district and the payment thereof to be either general expenses or special expenses of the county health district, and in the latter case may declare that such payment shall be a separate charge on the area upon which such expenses would have been charged if such order had not been made, or on such portion of the county health district including that area as the Minister shall think fit.

75. —In any town in which the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act, 1854, is in force, the amount of any assessment under section 60 of that Act may, notwithstanding the limitations in that section, amount to but shall not exceed the amount of two shillings and six pence in the pound where the provisions of the said Act with respect to water have been adopted, or the amount of two shillings in the pound where such provisions with respect to water have not been adopted.

76. —(1) Paragraphs (a) and (b) of sub-section (1) of section 16 of the National Insurance Act, 1911, shall be amended by the omission in each of the said paragraphs of the words “other than Poor Law Authorities.”

(2) Sub-section (3) of section 64 of the National Insurance Act, 1911, shall be amended by the omission of the words “not being Poor Law Authorities.”

(3) Sub-section (4) of section 64 of the National Insurance Act, 1911, shall be amended by the omission of the words “other than a Poor Law Authority.”

77. —Sub-section (7) of section 9 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, shall be amended by the omission of all the words in the sub-section from the words “and the expenses” to the end and by the substitution therefor of the following words, that is to say:—“and the expenses of each half-year ending on the 30th day of September or the 31st day of March shall be defrayed by the several counties in proportion to the number of lunatics from each county maintained in the lunatic asylum in such half-year, and the committee for the asylum shall be a joint committee of the councils of the counties with a representation of each council (determined in case of dispute by the Minister for Local Government and Public Health) in proportion to the number of lunatics from each county, according to the average of the three local financial years which ended next before the last triennial election of county councillors.”

78. —Section 16 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1902 (which empowers a county council to pay a subscription for the association of county councils of Ireland) shall be and is hereby amended by the substitution therein of twenty pounds for ten pounds as the limit to the amount which in any one year may be paid as a subscription to the funds of the association.

79. —All district lunatic asylums maintained by county councils under section 9 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, shall henceforth be styled and known as district mental hospitals, and the title of every such district lunatic asylum shall be and is hereby amended by the substitution therein of the words “mental hospital” for the words “lunatic asylum.”

80. —It shall not be lawful for the council of any county to resolve that an annual sum be raised off such county and paid as a salary to the surgeon of the infirmary or infirmaries thereof under the provision of section 86 of the Grand Jury (Ireland) Act, 1836, as adapted by the Local Government (Adaptation of Irish Enactments) Order, 1899, without the consent of the Minister, and so much of the said section 86 as imposes a limit on the amount which may be so raised and paid shall cease to have effect.

81. —(1) The provisions of any enactment in force at the passing of this Act relating to any of the powers, duties, properties, or liabilities transferred to a county council or a board of health by this Act, shall be construed with such modifications as may be necessary to give effect to this Act.

(2) If any doubt, dispute, or question shall arise, or, in the opinion of the Minister, be likely to arise, as to whether any power, duty, property, or liability is or is not transferred by or under this Act to a county council or the board of health, such doubt, dispute, or question shall be decided by the Minister, and if such doubt, dispute, or question relates to the construction of any statute, order, or regulation, the Minister may by order specify the modifications which are to be made in such statute, order, or regulation under sub-section (1) of this section.

82. —(1) Where the business of any council or committee is transferred by this Act to any county council, the existing officers of that council or committee employed in that business shall, on and after the appointed day, become the officers of such county council in like manner, subject to the provisions of this section, as if they had been appointed by such county council, and any such officer may be transferred by such county council to the board of health of any county health district in such county.

(2) For the purposes of the enactments relating to superannuation or to compensation for loss of office, the services of any existing officer of any such council or committee before his transfer under this section to a county council or a board of health shall be reckoned as services under that county council or board of health.

(3) If any existing officer of a rural district council is removed from office in consequence of changes effected by or under this Act, the cost of any compensation granted to such officer for such loss of office shall be charged on the area of the county to the council of which the business of such rural district council is transferred by this Act, exclusive of the area of any urban district in such county.

(4) In this section the expression “existing officer” means any officer who is in office on the appointed day.

83. —If an officer of a rural district council holds more than one office under that council or under that council and another local body, and is removed from the office from which he derives the greater part of his income in consequence of changes effected by or under this Act, he shall be entitled to relinquish all the said offices and to receive compensation on the same terms and conditions as if all his offices had been abolished.

84. —(1) This section shall apply to any rate made by the council of a county or urban district before the first day of June, 1925, for the service of the local financial year ending on the thirty-first day of March 1926.

(2) Every rate to which this section applies shall be raised and collected as if this Act had not been passed.

(3) The proceeds of every rate to which this section applies, raised for the expenses of any duty of a rural district council, may be expended in the performance of such duty by the county council or board of health to which such duty is transferred under this Act.

(4) Where the area upon which before the passing of this Act the expenses of the performance of any duty of a county, urban district or rural district council were charged has been extended by this Act either directly or by reason of the transfer of such duty from such council the proceeds of any rate to which this section applies may be expended under this Act in the performance of such duty in such extended area.

(5) If the amount of any rate to which this section applies raised and levied upon and in any area exceeds or is less than the amount of the rate which would have been raised and levied upon and in such area under this Act for the service of the said local financial year, such excess or deficit shall be taken into account by way of adjustment in the rate to be raised and levied for the service of the local financial year ending on the thirty-first day of March, 1927.

85. —The Local Elections Postponement (Amendment) Act, 1924 (No. 39 of 1924), is hereby repealed and in lieu thereof it is hereby enacted that the Local Elections Postponement Act, 1922 (No. 4 of 1922), shall be construed and have effect as if the expiration of three months from the passing of this Act was substituted therein for the first day of January, 1924, where that date is mentioned in sub-section (1) of section 1 and sub-section (1) of section 2 of that Act.

86. —(1) The Minister may by order do any of the matters following, that is to say:—

(a) apply to boards of health any existing enactments relating to county or district councils with such modifications as he shall deem necessary;

(b) make such adaptations of any existing enactment (including any Local Act), relating to any matter dealt with or affected by this Act as appear to him necessary or expedient for carrying this Act into effect;

(c) make rules for carrying this Act into effect, and in particular for regulating—

(i.) the estimating and raising of the expenses of boards of health,

(ii.) the accounts, audits, and annual estimates of boards of health in such manner that units of cost for comparative and control purposes can be established,

(iii.) the transfer of the property and liabilities of any public body abolished by this Act,

(iv.) any adjustment of rights, duties or liabilities required for the purposes of this Act,

(v.) the actions of county councils, rural district councils, urban district councils, boards of health, committees and officers during the period between the passing of this Act and the appointed day;

(d) make regulations respecting the procedure of local authorities in connection with the business imposed on or transferred to them by or in pursuance of any enactment (including this Act), and by any such regulations annul or vary the Local Government (Procedure of Councils) Order, 1899 (as amended by any provisional order duly confirmed) or any provision thereof;

(e) where it appears to him that any Local Act contains any provisions similar to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, declare such provisions to be no longer in force.

(2) Every order made by the Minister under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution is passed by either House of the Oireachtas within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which such House has sat after the order is laid before it annulling such order, such order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such order.

87. —The enactments mentioned in the Seventh Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of the said Schedule.

88. —(1) This Act may be cited as the Local Government Act, 1925.

(2) Part II . of this Act shall be construed as one with the Public Health (Ireland) Acts, 1878 to 1919.