Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 3 Jul 1963

Vol. 56 No. 15

Private Business. - Transport Bill, 1963 (Seanad Bill amended by Dáil)—Report and Final Stages.

Question proposed: "That the Bill be received for final consideration."

Minister for Transport and Power (Mr. Childers)

In the Dáil some amendments of a minor character were inserted during the passage of the Bill. In section 14, page 7, line 58, after the word "section" there was inserted the following:

"And the references in this said sections to the Board shall, for the purposes of such application, be construed as references to the Company."

This is merely a clarifying amendment to ensure that the intentions of subsection (2) of Section 14 are to apply it to the company which in this case is by definition Ostlanna Iompair Éireann, the subsidiary of CIE for the management of the hotels. It is purely a drafting amendment.

Mr. Murphy

All I wish to say is that I agree with this amendment and with the other amendments. When this Bill was going through its Second Stage in the Seanad, I asked for the Minister's co-operation because I felt that legal advice on certain aspects of the Bill might not be received quickly enough. You usually find in a measure like this that the legal people have doubts on certain things and have certain improvements to offer and this was the case here. I thank the Minister for his co-operation in inserting the necessary amendments. None is particularly important but they were thought desirable by the legal mind.

An Leas-Chathaoirleach

Would the Minister deal with all the amendments together?

Mr. Childers

In Section 15 a sentence was added. The words "and any person claiming through him" were added on page 8, sub-paragraph (a), line 27, after the words "the person". The section of the Bill provides for the retention by employees transferred by CIE to Ostlanna Iompair Éireann of rights they held to membership of and benefits under any CIE benefits scheme. The intention of the amendment was to give added assurance that dependants of members may qualify for benefits under such a scheme and retain such entitlements. That was in case members of staff died and in some way or other, as a result of the passage of the Bill, their dependants would not be entitled to the same treatment regarding pensions as they are at present entitled to and the amendment was inserted.

In Section 18, some words are inserted with the purpose of remedying gaps in existing legislation to enable CIE to make abandonment orders in respect of lines which had been closed down or on which services were terminated before the lines became vested in CIE. As the section previously stood, it was not possible for CIE to abandon a line in Dublin city which had not been used since 1925. It is simply a clarifying legal amendment to make the position absolutely clear.

Question put and agreed to.

Question—"That the Bill do now pass"—put and agreed to.