PART I

Preliminary and General

1. —This Act may be cited as the Urban Renewal Act, 1998.

2. —(1) This Act (other than the provisions referred to in subsections (2) to (5)) shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so fixed for different purposes or different provisions.

(2) This Part and sections 7 and 8 shall be deemed to have come into operation on the first day of May, 1997.

(3) Section 13 shall be deemed to have come into operation on the first day of February, 1998.

(4) Sections 18 and 20 (2) shall be deemed to have come into operation on the twenty-eighth day of May, 1998.

(5) Section 20 (1) shall come into operation on such day as the Minister for Finance may appoint by order.

3. —(1) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires—

“the Act of 1946” means the Local Government Act, 1946 ;

“the Act of 1997” means the Dublin Docklands Development Authority Act, 1997 ;

“authorised company” shall be construed in accordance with section 5 (2);

“the Authority” means the Dublin Docklands Development Authority established under section 14 of the Act of 1997;

“company” means a company within the meaning of section 2 of the Companies Act, 1963 ;

“Dublin Docklands Area” has the meaning assigned to it by section 4 of the Act of 1997;

“elective body” means an elective body for the purposes of the County Management Acts, 1940 to 1994;

“functions” includes powers and duties and a reference to the performance of functions includes, with respect to powers and duties, a reference to the exercise of the powers and the carrying out of the duties;

“integrated area plan” has the meaning assigned to it by section 7 ;

“local authority” means—

(a) the corporation of a county borough, or

(b) the council of an administrative county,

and the functional area of a local authority for the purposes of this Act is the county borough or, as the case may be, the administrative county of that authority;

“the Minister” means the Minister for the Environment and Local Government;

“rating authority” means a rating authority for the purposes of the Act of 1946;

“reserved function” means—

(a) in the case of the council of a county or an elective body, a reserved function for the purposes of the County Management Acts, 1940 to 1994,

(b) in the case of the corporation of a county borough, a reserved function for the purposes of the Acts relating to the management of the county borough.

(2) In this Act—

(a) a reference to a section is a reference to a section of this Act, unless it is indicated that a reference to some other enactment is intended;

(b) a reference to a subsection or paragraph is a reference to a subsection or paragraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that a reference to some other provision is intended;

(c) a reference to any enactment shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended or adapted by or under any subsequent enactment.

4. —Notwithstanding any discrepancy between the terms in which it is therein so described and the terms of this Act as it is now so enacted, this Act shall be the Act of the Oireachtas referred to in section 372A(2) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1998 ) of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997 .

5. —(1) Each local authority may appoint a company (including a company established by a local authority) to be an authorised company for the purposes of this Act.

(2) A reference in this Act to an authorised company shall be construed as a reference to the company appointed under subsection (1) by the particular local authority to which any provision of this Act in which that reference occurs falls to be applied.

(3) A reference in Chapter 7 (inserted by the Finance Act, 1998 ) of Part 10 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997 , to a company established by a local authority shall be construed as including a reference to an authorised company.

(4) A local authority may revoke any appointment made by it under subsection (1).

6. —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.