The purpose of this Bill is to enable the Minister for Transport by order to give a statutory basis for the levels of light dues collected in respect of ships calling to ports within the State and to enable him to vary the levels of light dues from time to time.
The provision and maintenance of the lights services, comprising lighthouses, beacons, buoys, and other aids required for general maritime navigation, around the coasts of Britain and Ireland, including Northern Ireland, are governed by the provisions of sections 634 to 669 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, as adapted. The Act vested responsibility for the lights services in three bodies known as general lighthouse authorities.
The three general lighthouse authorities are Trinity House, London, which has responsibility for the lights services throughout England, Wales and the Channel Islands, and also the adjacent seas and islands; the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses whose responsibility extends throughout Scotland, its adjacent seas and islands and the Isle of Man; and the Commissioners of Irish Lights who are responsible for the light services throughout the 32 counties of Ireland and its adjacent seas and islands. The 1894 Act also confirmed the three authorities in the ownership of the lights and other property held and maintained by them.
Local harbour lights, buoys and other navigational aids, which are used only by vessels entering or leaving a particular harbour or pier, are provided and maintained by the individual harbour authority or other local body concerned, subject only to the technical supervision of the appropriate general lighthouse authority.
While the lights in the three areas are separately owned and managed by the three general lighthouse authorities, who have wide discretion in local matters, the whole system of lights around the coasts of Britain and Ireland is administered as a single self-supporting financial unit.
All ships using ports in Britain or in Ireland, except those specifically exempted, pay light dues on a uniform scale, fixed by the British Department of Trade, to the general lighthouse authority within whose areas of jurisdiction the ports lie. Light dues in respect of vessels calling to ports within the State are collected by local customs officers, acting as agents of the Commissioners of Irish Lights. They are remitted via the Department of Transport to the British Department of Trade, by whom they are paid, together with the light dues collected by the two other lighthouse authorities, into a statutory General Lighthouse Fund established under the Merchant Shipping (Mercantile Marine Fund) Act, 1898. Expenditure incurred by the three general lighthouse authorities is met from this fund.
The fixing or altering of the level of light dues is governed by the Merchant Shipping (Mercantile Marine Fund) Act, 1898, as adapted. Section 5 (2) of that Act provides that light dues may be altered by Government order. Since the foundation of the State, however, the practice has been that the light dues fixed from time to time by the British Department of Trade have been applied on an administrative basis to vessels calling to ports within the State.
The whole question of the anomalous position of the Commissioners of Irish Lights was raised by the British Comptroller and Auditor General in his report for the years 1979-80 and 1980-81, in which he drew attention to the fact that there was no legal basis for the collection of light dues in the State at rates in excess of those in operation in 1922. He also referred to the loss of revenue to the General Lighthouse Fund by virtue of the fact that since Ireland joined the European Monetary System on 13 March 1979, light dues had been collected in Irish pounds as though they were equivalent to pounds sterling.
Preliminary discussions took place last year between the British Department of Trade and my Department about various legal and financial anomalies of the situation of the Commissioners of Irish Lights. It was agreed at the time that the whole complex question of the Commissioners of Irish Lights and their relationship with the British and Irish authorities should be the subject of further bilateral discussions after the matter had been considered by the Department of Transport in consultation with other Government Departments and other interests concerned. It was also agreed in principle that light dues charged at Irish ports should be fixed as soon as possible at a level in Irish currency equivalent in value to the sterling rate fixed in Britain.
The Attorney General, who has been consulted by the Department of Transport, has confirmed that there is no statutory basis for the charging of light dues at Irish ports at a level in excess of that prevailing at the time of the transfer of powers from Britain to Ireland in 1922. It is necessary, therefore, to take steps to remedy this position and, as already mentioned, that is one of the purposes of this Bill — the other being to enable the Minister to vary the levels of light dues from time to time.
I have already referred to the provisions in the Merchant Shipping (Mercantile Marine Fund) Act, 1898, whereby light dues may be altered by Government order. Section 5(3) of that Act provides, however, that, before any such order is made, the draft order shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas for not less than 30 sitting days and may be rejected by resolution of either House. Because of the excessive delay which would be involved in following the procedure laid down in the 1898 Act, the Government decided to introduce the present Bill for the purpose of amending and updating the relevant provisions of the 1898 Act.
The Bill is a short one and is primarily of an enabling nature. Section 2 of the Bill will empower the Minister for Transport to make an order amending the scales, rules and exemptions set out in the Second Schedule to the 1898 Act for the levying of light dues, with retrospective effect to the date of introduction of this Bill. The purpose of the retrospective clause is to prevent a shipowner from claiming that he was not obliged until the ministerial order was made to pay light dues at a level higher than that existing in 1922. Under section 2(4) any such order will be laid before each House of the Oireachtas in the customary manner. Section 3 provides for the repeal of certain parts of section 5 of the 1898 Act which will become redundant once this Bill has been enacted.
I recommend the Bill for the approval of the House.
