PART I.

Dissolution of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland and Transfer of the Functions thereof.

3. —Immediately upon the commencement of this Act the Department shall stand dissolved.

4. —(1) The several powers and duties (in this Act collectively referred to as the powers and duties transferred to the Minister) hereinafter mentioned are hereby transferred to and conferred and imposed on the Minister, that is to say:—

(a) the several powers and duties under the respective enactments mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act which, immediately before the commencement of this Act, were exercised or performed or capable of being exercised or performed by the Department, and

(b) the powers and duties in connection with the Albert Agricultural College (otherwise known as the Albert Agricultural and Dairy Training Department and formerly known as the Albert Institution) at Glasnevin, Dublin, and the Munster Institute (otherwise known as the Munster Dairy School and Agricultural Institute and formerly known as the Munster Institution) which were transferred to the Department under paragraph (h) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Act of 1899 and all other (if any) powers and duties exercised or performed or capable of being exercised or performed by the Department in connection with the said College or the said Institute immediately before the commencement of this Act, and

(c) all other (if any) statutory powers and duties (except powers and duties transferred by this Act to the Minister for Industry and Commerce) which immediately before the commencement of this Act were exercised or performed or were capable of being exercised or performed by the Department.

(2) In addition to the powers and duties hereinbefore transferred to the Minister, the Minister shall have and may exercise and perform the following powers and duties heretofore vested in the Department under the Act of 1899, that is to say:—

(a) the Minister may make, or cause to be made, or aid in making, such inquiries, experiments, and research, and collect, or aid in collecting, such information as he may think important for the purposes of agriculture and other rural industries; and

(b) the Minister may take such steps as he thinks proper for appearing as complainant on behalf of any person aggrieved in reference to any matter (other than a matter affecting the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs) which the Railway Tribunal has jurisdiction to hear and determine by virtue of any function, jurisdiction, power, or duty transferred to it from the Railway and Canal Commissioners; and

(c) the Minister may take such steps as he thinks proper for instituting prosecutions under sections 6, 7 and 8 of the Fertilizers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1906.

(3) In addition to the powers conferred on the Minister by paragraph (b) of the foregoing sub-section and without prejudice to the exercise of such powers, the Minister shall have the right of audience either by an officer of the Minister or by counsel or solicitor, before the Railway Tribunal in relation to any matter which the Railway Tribunal has jurisdiction to hear and determine by virtue of the Railways Act, 1924 (No. 29 of 1924).

(4) The Minister shall before exercising the powers conferred on him by paragraph (b) of sub-section (2) of this section or the right conferred on him by sub-section (3) of this section consult with the Minister for Industry and Commerce in regard to the exercise of such powers or right.

(5) The Minister may publish in such manner as shall appear to him desirable such particulars as he shall think fit in regard to any inquiries, experiments, research, and information made or collected by or for him or with his aid under or by virtue of the powers in that behalf hereinbefore conferred on him.

5. —The powers and duties (in this Act collectively referred to as the powers and duties transferred to the Minister for Industry and Commerce) under section 3 and sub-section (2) of section 4 of the Markets and Fairs (Weighing of Cattle) Act, 1891, which were formerly vested in the Irish Land Commission and immediately before the commencement of this Act were vested in the Department are hereby transferred to and conferred and imposed on the Minister for Industry and Commerce.

6. —(1) Such of the officers of the Department as are at the commencement of this Act concerned with the powers and duties transferred to the Minister are hereby transferred to the Department of Agriculture.

(2) Such of the officers of the Department as are at the commencement of this Act concerned with the powers and duties transferred to the Minister for Industry and Commerce are hereby transferred to the Department of Industry and Commerce.

7. —(1) Every mention or reference contained in any enactment to which this section applies in relation to the exercise or performance of the powers and duties transferred to the Minister of or to the Lord Lieutenant, the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, the Under-Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, the Commissioners of National Education, the Irish Land Commission, the Loan Fund Board, or the Department shall be construed and take effect as a mention of or reference to the Minister for Agriculture.

(2) Every mention or reference contained in any enactment to which this section applies in relation to the exercise or performance of the powers and duties transferred to the Minister for Industry and Commerce of or to the Irish Land Commission or the Department shall be construed and take effect as a mention of or a reference to the Minister for Industry and Commerce.

(3) This section applies to the following enactments, that is to say, every Act of the Oireachtas passed before the commencement of this Act, and every British Statute, and every order, rule, regulation or bye-law made or to be made under any such Act or Statute or under any such Act and any such Statute jointly.

8. —(1) Immediately upon the commencement of this Act all land in Saorstát Eireann which immediately before the commencement of this Act is by statute, deed, contract, or otherwise vested in or held in trust for the Department shall without any conveyance thereof become and be vested in or held in trust for (as the case may require) the Minister for all the estate, term and interest for which the same were immediately before the commencement of this Act vested in or held in trust for the Department.

(2) Immediately upon the commencement of this Act all property and assets (including choses-in-action but excluding land) which immediately before the commencement of this Act, are by statute, deed, contract, or otherwise vested in or held in trust for or by the Department shall vest in the Minister for all the interest for which the same were immediately before the commencement of this Act vested in or held in trust for the Department.

(3) All moneys, stocks, shares and securities transferred to the Minister by this section which at the date of the commencement of this Act are standing in the books of the Bank of Ireland or of any other corporation or company in the name of the Department shall, upon the request of the Minister, be transferred into the name of the Minister.

(4) From and after the commencement of this Act, every bond, obligation, security or other chose-in-action made with or to the Department and the benefit of which is transferred by this section may be sued upon by the Minister in his own name and it shall not be necessary for the Minister to give notice to the person bound by such bond, obligation, security or chose-in-action of the transfer effected by this section.

9. —(1) Every deed and every contract in writing made before the commencement of this Act with or by any person by or with the Department shall, if and so far as the terms and provisions of such deed, contract or agreement are not fully executed and completed before the commencement of this Act, be construed and read as if the Minister were substituted in such deed, contract or agreement for the Department.

(2) The benefits conferred and the obligations imposed on the Department by any such deed, contract or agreement as is mentioned in the preceding sub-section shall, so far as the same remain to be performed, be as from the commencement of this Act respectively vested in or imposed on the Minister as fully as if the Minister were actually named in such deed, contract or agreement.

10. —In all suits, matters and proceedings to which the Department are a party and which at the commencement of this Act are pending in any Court in Saorstát Eireann, the Minister shall immediately upon the commencement of this Act become and be a party in place of the Department, and every such suit, matter and proceeding shall be continued between the Minister and the other parties thereto accordingly.

11. —(1) The Minister whenever and so often as he so thinks fit may with the consent of the Minister for Finance and after consultation with such bodies and persons as he shall consider most representative of the several interests concerned, establish by order a consultative council for giving advice and assistance to him in relation to such matters (being matters relating to or concerned with the public services for the time being comprised in the Department of Agriculture other than matters which by virtue of an Act of the Oireachtas passed before or after this Act are the concern of a consultative council established under such Act) as he shall specify in such order or in any subsequent order.

(2) A consultative council established under this section shall consist of such persons having experience or special knowledge of the matters on which such council may give advice or assistance to the Minister as the Minister, after such consultation as aforesaid, shall from time to time nominate to be member; thereof.

(3) Every member of a consultative council established under this section shall, unless he previously dies or resigns, retain his membership for two years only from the date of his nomination, but shall be eligible for re-nomination.

(4) A consultative council established under this section shall meet whenever summoned by the Minister and also on such other occasions as such council shall from time to time determine.

(5) Payments may be made by the Minister, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, to members of a consultative council established under this section or of a committee thereof, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, in respect of repayment of travelling expenses and payment of subsistence allowance.

12. —(1) There may be granted to or in respect of such persons (being persons who at the passing of this Act are in the service of the Government of Saorstát Eireann and who at any time were paid wholly or partly out of any special fund) as may be approved by the Minister for Finance and in respect of such service as that Minister may direct, superannuation or other allowances or gratuities on the scale laid down in the Superannuation Acts for the time being in force, and subject to the provisions of those Acts (except so much of section 17 of the Superannuation Act, 1859, as enacts that for the purposes of that Act no person hereafter to be appointed shall be deemed to have served in the permanent Civil Service of the State unless such person holds his appointment or has been admitted into the Civil Service in the manner therein mentioned), and for the purposes of this section such persons as may be so approved shall be deemed to have been paid in respect of every period of service which is special service from moneys voted by the Oireachtas within the meaning of section 17 of the Superannuation Act, 1859.

(2) Whenever a person who has been approved by the Minister for Finance under the foregoing sub-section is a transferred officer within the meaning of the Civil Service (Transferred Officers) Compensation Act, 1929 (No. 36 of 1929) and is alive at the time such approval is given the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) such approval shall be deemed to be granted subject to a condition (in this sub-section referred to as the first condition) that any benefit accruing to such person under this section shall not be taken into account in determining any question of compensation under the said Act; and

(b) subject to the next following paragraph, such approval shall also be deemed to be granted subject to a condition (in this sub-section referred to as the second condition) that such person shall send to the Minister for Finance within one month after such approval has been notified to him a consent in writing accepting the first condition and in the event of such person failing or neglecting to comply with the second condition such failure or neglect shall operate as a cancellation of such approval; and

(c) such approval shall not be deemed to be granted subject to the second condition if—

(i) such person dies before such approval is notified to him, or

(ii) such person dies after such approval is notified to him and within a period of one month from the date of such notification, or

(iii) the Minister for Finance certifies that having regard to bodily or mental infirmity of such person, such approval should not in the case of such person be deemed to be granted subject to the second condition.

(3) In this section—

the expression “special fund” means—

(a) the former Cattle Pleuro-pneumonia Account for Ireland of the General Cattle Diseases Fund being the Account referred to in section 73 of the Diseases of Animals Act, 1894; or

(b) moneys (including proceeds thereof) formerly placed at the disposal of the Department by section 15 of the Act of 1899; or

(c) moneys (including proceeds thereof) formerly placed at the disposal of the Department by section 1 of the Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland) (No. 2) Act, 1902; or

(d) moneys (including proceeds thereof) formerly placed at the disposal of the Department by section 49 of the Irish Land Act, 1909; or

(e) moneys (including proceeds thereof) formerly placed at the disposal of the Department under sections 1 and 2 of the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act, 1909; or

(f) the former Forestry Fund established under section 8 of the Forestry Act, 1919;

the expression “special service” means—

(a) service under the Department; or

(b) service under the Minister; or

(c) in the case of an officer of any committee or joint committee appointed under section 14 of the Act of 1899 who was appointed to a situation directly under the Department on or prior to the 6th day of December, 1922, service under such committee or joint committee; or

(d) service under the Forestry Commissioners; or

(e) service under any other authority the whole or part of whose powers and duties was transferred directly or indirectly to the Minister or to the Department.