PART IV.

Miscellaneous and General.

27. —(1) This section applies to any proceedings instituted in the High Court or the Circuit Court for the recovery of any tax or duty under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners or any fine, penalty or forfeiture incurred in connection with any such tax or duty, wherein an execution order (the form whereof is set out at No. 37 in Appendix N to the Rules of the Supreme Court (Ireland) 1905 and is therein described as a form of writ of Levari Facias), or an order similar in requirements thereto could hitherto have been issued if such proceedings had been instituted in the High Court.

(2) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary provided by or under any enactment or by any rule of court, where judgment against the defendant for any amount is given by the High Court in proceedings to which this section applies, the form of execution order to be issued for that amount shall, if the plaintiff or informant so requires, be in the form set out in the Third Schedule to this Act, and where such judgment is given in the Circuit Court, the form of execution order to be so issued shall, if the plaintiff or informant so requires, be in the said form with the appropriate modifications.

28. —(1) The Minister may from time to time by order do all or any of the following things—

(a) fix the rate of interest (in this subsection referred to as the ordinary rate) to be payable in respect of deposits,

(b) provide that, where the amount of a deposit exceeds a specified sum—

(i) interest on so much thereof as does not exceed the said specified sum shall be payable at the ordinary rate, and

(ii) interest on the remainder thereof shall be payable at such rate or at such different rates in respect of different parts thereof as may be specified in the order,

(c) fix the minimum period for which any interest on a deposit is to be calculated,

(d) fix the minimum amount of a deposit in respect of which or any multiple of which interest is to be calculated,

(e) provide for the manner in which a part of any interest, consisting of a fraction of a penny, on a deposit is to be treated,

(f) provide for such other matters, in relation to the calculation of any interest on deposits, as he thinks proper.

(2) The Minister may by order amend or revoke any order made under subsection (1) of this section.

(3) Before any order is made by the Minister under this section a draft thereof shall be laid before Dáil Eireann, and, if a resolution disapproving of the making of the order in the terms of the draft is passed by Dáil Eireann within the next subsequent twelve days on which Dáil Eireann has sat after the draft has been so laid before it, no further proceedings shall be taken thereon, but without prejudice to the making of any new draft order.

(4) As on and from the date on which the first order made by the Minister under subsection (1) of this section comes into operation—

(a) section 7 of the Post Office Savings Bank Act, 1861, shall stand repealed,

(b) the interest payable on deposits shall be at such rate or rates as may be specified in an order made under this section and for the time being in force.

(5) In this section—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Finance; the word “deposit” means the total amount for the time being standing to the credit of a depositor's account in the Post Office Savings Bank, but does not include moneys standing to the credit of a trustee savings bank in the name of the Minister in the Post Office Savings Bank.

29. —(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 5 of the National Debt (Supplemental) Act, 1888, the interest payable on a deposit in a trustee savings bank shall not exceed the rate for the time being payable on a deposit of a similar amount in the Post Office Savings Bank.

(2) In this section the expression “trustee savings bank” means a bank certified under the Trustee Savings Banks Act, 1863.

30. —(1) There is hereby established a fund (in this section referred to as the Fund) which shall be known as the Transition Development Fund and shall be under the control and management of the Minister.

(2) There shall be paid into the Fund, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, in the financial year which commenced on the 1st day of April, 1946, a sum not exceeding five million pounds.

(3) The Minister may apply the Fund for any purpose for or towards the cost of which public moneys are provided and which is conducive to the development or improvement of capital resources.

(4) The Fund shall be wound-up not later than the 31st day of December, 1948, and the balance then remaining in the Fund shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister may direct.

(5) The Minister shall, as respects every financial year, during which or part of which the Fund is maintained, prepare an account of payments into and out of the Fund, and such account shall be submitted to the Comptroller and Auditor General for examination and report.

(6) The Minister shall lay before each House of the Oireachtas a copy of every account prepared under subsection (5) of this section and of every report of the Comptroller and Auditor General thereon.

(7) In this section—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Finance; the expression “public moneys” means moneys charged on or issued out of the Central Fund or provided by the Oireachtas.

31. —The enactments specified in the second column of the Fourth Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of the said Schedule.

32. —All taxes and duties imposed by this Act are hereby placed under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners.

33. —(1) This Act may be cited as the Finance Act, 1946.

(2) Part I of this Act shall be construed together with the Income Tax Acts.

(3) Part II of this Act, so far as it relates to duties of customs shall be construed together with the Customs Acts and, so far as it relates to duties of excise, shall be construed together with the statutes which relate to the duties of excise and the management of those duties.

(4) Part I of this Act shall, save as is otherwise expressly provided therein, be deemed to come into force on and shall take effect as on and from the 6th day of April, 1946.