I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in the following amendments:—
Section 101; sub-section (3). To delete the sub-section.
Section 101, sub-section (4). To delete the sub-section.
New section. Before Section 102 a new section inserted as follows:—
"102.—(1) Where it appears to the Minister that any local, personal or private Act or any order relating to the existing City or to either of the added urban districts and in force at the passing of this Act contains provisions which are inconsistent with or rendered unnecessary by or adequately replaced by provisions made by or under this Act, the Minister may by order declare that such provisions of such Act or order shall not apply in or in relation to the City, and upon such order being made the provisions specified therein of such Act or order shall not apply in or in relation to the City.
(2) Where it appears to the Minister that any local, personal or private Act or any order relating to any of the coastal urban districts and in force at the passing of this Act contains provisions which are inconsistent with or rendered unnecessary by or adequately replaced by provisions made by or under this Act, the Minister may by order declare that such provisions of such Act or order shall not apply in or in relation to the Borough, and upon such order being made the provisions specified therein of such Act or order shall not apply in or in relation to the Borough.
(3) No order made under this section shall come into force unless and until it has been laid before each House of the Oireachtas and has been approved by resolution of each such House."
These amendments were inserted by the Seanad with a view to getting, in their opinion, more effective control over orders issued by Ministers for the purpose of implementing legislation. These two sub-sections give the Minister power to adapt such Acts as exist to the new circumstances, and whether they are local Acts dealing with particular matters—for instance, a local Act dealing with a particular matter of the city, and another local Act dealing with some matter in one of the added urban districts—under these two sub-sections the Minister has power to issue an order extending to the whole city any one of these Acts that he considers most suitable for the city as a whole. An order so issued will come into force immediately, but may be annulled within twenty-one sitting days by a vote either of the Dáil or the Seanad, and it would under those circumstances cease to exist, without prejudice to anything that had been done in the meantime. The Seanad was of the opinion that where the issuing of such an order involved the repealing of any existing Act. whether it is a local or a general Act, or of any statutory order issued under such an Act, such repeal should not take place simply by a Ministerial order which had run the gauntlet of either House, sitting for twenty-one days, and it proposed that a Minister, having issued an order adapting to the city as a whole a private Act, or having issued a similar order with regard to the borough, that the order actually putting the new situation into force may come into effect right away. subject to running the gauntlet of both Houses for twenty-one days, but that a separate order must be issued in respect of any Act or order that as a consequence is to be repealed, and that there must be an explicit resolution passed by the Dáil and the Seanad before that order comes into force.
To a certain extent this arises on the general question as to the way in which Ministers, in issuing such orders, can best be controlled. From my own point of view I think there is no necessity for this amendment. I told the Seanad that I would accept it as a contribution from them to our general experience of how this matter can best be dealt with. I am asking the House to accept the amendment, which will mean that in certain circumstances the Minister must get a positive resolution from both Houses where an Act or an order is to be annulled. I do not put it to the Dáil as a necessary or even a desirable type of thing, except that it will give us a certain amount of experience of working in this particular way. From my point of view this is not a suitable occasion for discussing the whole matter of these orders.