I move amendment No. 1:
In page 2, before section 2, to insert the following new section:
2.—(1) Where the Board is satisfied that by reason of the presence of any void, space, cellar, machinery, furnace, oil or petrol storage tank or any other duct cable or energy source, in or on any lands or premises which lie adjacent to or in the near proximity of any gas pipeline mains or storage facility owned or maintained by the Board, there is a danger to persons or property arising from any potential leaks or escape of gas into such lands or premises:
(i) it shall be lawful for the Board to discontinue the supply of gas to any part of the said lands or premises, and,
(ii) it shall be lawful for the Board to make a Gas Safety Order in respect of any such lands or premises whether or not there is a supply of gas thereto.
(2) A Gas Safety Order shall specify the works which the Board considers reasonably necessary to obviate the danger referred to in subsection (1) of this section.
(3) A copy of the Gas Safety Order shall be served on any persons appearing to the Board to have an interest in the lands or premises affected by the Order and shall be advertised in a manner to be prescribed by the Minister in regulations made under this Section.
(4) The Gas Safety Order shall indicate whether the Board proposes to carry out the works or whether it is requiring the owner or occupier of the lands or premises to carry out the works.
(5) The cost of carrying out the works specified in a Gas Safety Order shall be borne by the Board unless the Court shall otherwise direct on finding that the works are necessitated by the unlawful and unreasonable use of the lands and premises by any person, in which case it shall be lawful for the Court to direct that person to pay the whole or part of such costs.
(6) The Court may also direct that a person who has constructed on his lands any space or structure or has installed thereon any machine or thing giving rise to a danger as aforementioned, and has failed to obtain planning permission specially authorising such construction or installation, shall bear the whole or part of the cost of such works.
(7) In this section "the Court" means the Circuit Court for the area in which the lands and premises are situate.
(8) Any person aggrieved by the making of a Gas Safety Order may apply within 21 days of the service of the Order upon him by way of Appeal against such Order to the Court by Notice of Motion served on the Board, to vary or discharge the Order.
(9) (a) The Board may, by Notice of Motion served on any person appearing to be interested in the said lands or premises, apply to the Court to have an Order made under subsection (5) of this section in respect of that person.
(b) Such application shall be made within 21 days of the service of the Gas Safety Order upon such person.
(10) Where the Board has served a Gas Safety Order in accordance with subsection (3) of this section, it shall be lawful for the Board, its servant, agents or contractors to enter on the lands and premises in respect of which the Order was made and to carry out in or on the said lands and premises the works specified in the said Order and any ancillary works and the Board shall be liable to pay compensation to the owner or occupier of the said lands or premises in respect of:
(a) the disturbance and interference caused by the execution of the said works on the said lands and premises, and,
(b) any diminution in the value of the said lands or premises arising from the execution of the said works,
and the provisions of the Arterial Drainage Acts in respect of assessing the amount of such compensation shall have effect in relation to compensation payable hereunder as though the works under this section were works carried out by the Commissioners for Public Works under those Acts and as though the Board were liable to pay compensation in like manner as the Commissioners in respect thereof.
(11) The Court may, on an application made ex-parte by the Board, abridge any period of time provided for in this section or deem any notice to be duly served, in such circumstances and subject to such conditions as the Court shall deem reasonable and just having regard to the urgency of the matter and the right of the persons affected by the making of a Gas Safety Order.
This is a proposal to add an entirely new section to the Bill. I suggest it is a very comprehensive and necessary amendment because it deals with the problem of voids or cellars in buildings where there can be an accumulation of gas. This was a major reason for the tragic accident which occurred at Raglan House. It was a very serious accident because gas was allowed to accumulate over a period of time in a void. There is no provision in this Bill and in the law as it stands at present to require the owners of buildings that have voids or cellars underneath them to fill these voids and block them up to prevent the ingress of gas into them. That is the purpose of this amendment.
Let me revert to the Raglan House incident because it seems a most appropriate example in terms of the proposed amendment. Gas will seep along the direction of a pipeline; in other words, it will defuse laterally, given that these underground services are normally in an impermeable soil and if there is a tarmacadam surface overhead there is no possibility of the gas venting. It will ultimately end up in a void and the main difficulty is that it seeps into the basement of a building. The purpose of this amendment is to put an onus and an obligation on the owners of such buildings to ensure that these voids are filled. That is not catered for at this time. In fact, the gas service need not be going into any particular building. The escape could come from a pipeline in the distribution network that would be in the vicinity of such a building. The dangers are there and we have ample evidence of that in relation to the Raglan House incident.
I urge that this amendment be taken on board. I regard it as being a very necessary amendment and it is entirely right that it should be incorporated into this Bill and become law. The amendment provides that the cost of completing the filling in a void would be borne by An Bord Gáis, except in cases where the building in question did not have planning permission or was in contravention of the law in some other way. There is provision in this amendment for compensation where there is a disturbance when people are having basements or cellars of their buildings filled in or indeed if there is any diminution in the value of the premises as a result of that work being carried out. I urge that this amendment be incorporated in the Bill as it is a very necessary amendment. Such problems as I have outlined are not catered for as the law stands at the moment.