Gas act, 1976

• Enactment Date: 19 July 1976
• Act Number: 30

Number 30 of 1976
GAS ACT, 1976
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
PART I
Preliminary and General
Section 1. Short title and commencement. 2. Interpretation. 3. Establishment day. 4. Regulations. 5. Service of notices, etc. 6. Expenses.
PART II
Bord Gáis Éireann
Irish Gas Board
7. Bord Gáis Éireann Irish Gas Board. 8. Functions of Board. 9. Conferring of additional functions on Board. 10. Board to cover outgoings and earn reasonable return on capital. 11. Directions as to profits, financial objectives and pricing policy of Board. 12. Contracts by Board. 13. Disclosure by member of Board of interest in proposed contract. 14. Annual report and information to Minister. 15. Accounts and audits. 16. Staff of Board. 17. Consultants and advisers. 18. Superannuation of officers and servants of Board. 19. Membership of either House of the Oireachtas of officers or servants of Board. 20. Disclosure of information. 21. Board's capital commitments. 22. Advances to Board by Minister for Finance. 23. Borrowing by Board for capital purposes. 24. Temporary borrowing by Board. 25. State guarantee of borrowings by Board for capital purposes. 26. Entry on land by Board. 27. Powers of Board in relation to the construction, maintenance and repair of pipelines. 28. Restriction on compulsory acquisition etc. of land held by Board and certain rights over or in respect of land. 29. Disposal etc. by Board of mineral rights restricted. 30. Board may make certain bye-laws.
PART III
Deviations, Acquisition Orders and Compensation
31. Deviations. 32. Acquisition order. 33. Compensation.
PART IV
Bord Gáis Éireann Teoranta
34. Entry on land by Company. 35. Dissolution of Company and transfer of its property, etc.
PART V
Miscellaneous
36. Minister for Industry and Commerce to consult Minister as regards certain applications to him under certain licences and leases.
37. Certain gas to be offered for sale to Board. 38. Safety Regulations. 39. Extinguishment of public right of way. 40. Restriction on construction and operation of pipelines by persons other than Board. 41. Savers.
PART VI
Amendments
42. Section 89 of Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963, not to apply to certain pipelines 43. Amendment of section 72 of Registration of Title Act, 1964. 44. Amendment of section 1 of Fuels (Control of Supplies) Act, 1971.
FIRST SCHEDULE
Irish Gas Board
SECOND SCHEDULE
Acquisition Orders
Acts Referred to Petroleum and Other Minerals Development Act, 1960 1960, No. 7. Continental Shelf Act, 1968 1968, No. 14. Harbours Act, 1946 1946, No. 9. Local Government Act, 1941 1941, No. 23. Companies Act, 1963 1963, No. 33. Local Government Act, 1946 1946, No. 24. Minerals Development Act, 1940 1940, No. 31. Registration of Title Act, 1964 1964, No. 16 Finance Act, 1895 1895, c. 16. Arbitration Act, 1954 1954, No. 26. Fuels (Control of Supplies) Act, 1971 1971, No. 3. Superannuation Act, 1859 1859, sess. 1, c. 26. Public Offices Fees Act, 1879 1879. c. 58. Working Classes Act, 1890 1890, c. 72.
Number 30 of 1976
GAS ACT, 1976
AN ACT TO MAKE PROVISION WITH RESPECT TO GAS SUPPLY AND FOR THAT PURPOSE TO ESTABLISH A BODY TO BE KNOWN IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE AS BORD GAIS EIREANN AND IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AS THE IRISH GAS BOARD AND TO DEFINE ITS FUNCTIONS, TO MAKE CERTAIN PROVISIONS TO ENABLE THAT BODY TO ACQUIRE LAND AND CERTAIN RIGHTS RELATING TO LAND, TO AMEND CERTAIN ENACTMENTS AND TO MAKE OTHER PROVISIONS CONNECTED WITH THE FOREGOING. [19th July, 1976]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
PART I Preliminary and General
	Short title and commencement.	1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Gas Act, 1976.
	(2) This Act, other than this section and sections 2, 3, 6, 34, 35, 36 and 44, shall come into force on the establishment day.
	Interpretation.	2.—In this Act—
	“the Act of 1960” means the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development Act, 1960 , as extended by section 4 (2) of the Continental Shelf Act, 1968 ;
	“the Board” means the body established by section 7;
	“the Commission” means the Irish Land Commission;
	“the Company” means Bord Gáis Éireann Teoranta;
	“deviation limits” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 1 of the Second Schedule;
	“the establishment day” means the day appointed by the Minister pursuant to section 3;
	“exploration licence” has the meaning assigned to it by section 8 of the Act of 1960;
	“foreshore” means the bed and shore, between the line of high water of ordinary or medium tides and the line of low water of such tides, of the sea and of every tidal river and tidal estuary and of every channel, creek and bay of the sea or of any such river or estuary;
	“functions” includes powers and duties;
	“harbour authority” means a harbour authority within the meaning of the Harbours Act, 1946 ;
	“land” includes seashore, land covered with water and foreshore other than foreshore which is the property of the State;
	“local authority” means a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act, 1941 ;
	“the Minister” means the Minister for Transport and Power;
	“natural gas” means any gas derived from natural strata (whether or not it has been subjected to liquification or any other process or treatment);
	“owner”, except in section 32 (7) and subject to Article 12 of the Second Schedule, in relation to land means,
	(a) a person other than a mortgagee not in possession, who, whether in his own right or as trustee or agent for any other person, is entitled to receive the rack rent of the land or, where the land is not let at a rack rent, would be so entitled if it were so let,
	(b) a lessee or occupier (other than a tenant for a month or a less period than a month);
	“petroleum lease” has the meaning assigned to it by section 13 of the Act of 1960;
	“pipeline” means a pipeline used or intended to be used for the transmission of gas and includes part of a pipeline, and, except in section 8 (3) (f), includes any apparatus, equipment or other thing which is ancillary to such a pipeline;
	“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;
	“right over land” includes any wayleave or other easement or any profit à prendre or any right in, on or over any land;
	“seashore” means every beach, bank and cliff contiguous to the foreshore and includes all sands and rocks contiguous to the foreshore.
	Establishment day.	3.—The Minister may by order appoint a day to be the establishment day for the purposes of this Act.
	Regulations.	4.—(1) The Minister may make regulations for prescribing any matter referred to in this Act as prescribed.
	(2) Every regulation made under this Act by the Minister shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.
	Service of notices, etc.	5.—(1) Where a notice is required by this Act to be served on a person, it shall be addressed to him and may be served on him in some one of the following ways:
	(a) where it is addressed to him by name, by delivering it to him,
	(b) by leaving it at the address at which he ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address,
	(c) by sending it by post in a prepaid registered letter addressed to him at the address at which he ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address,
	(d) where the address at which he ordinarily resides cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry and the notice or copy is so required to be served in respect of any land or right over land, by delivering the notice or copy to some person over sixteen years of age resident or employed on the land concerned or by affixing it in a conspicuous position on or near such land.
	(2) Where a notice is required by this Act to be served on an occupier and the name of the occupier cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry, it may be addressed to “the occupier” without naming him.
	(3) For the purposes of this section, a company within the meaning of the Companies Act, 1963 , shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its registered office, and every other body corporate and every unincorporated body shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its principal office or place of business.
	Expenses.	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.
PART II Bord Gáis Éireann Irish Gas Board
	Bord Gáis Éireann Irish Gas Board.	7.—(1) On the establishment day there shall be established a body to be known in the Irish language as Bord Gáis Éireann and in the English language as The Irish Gas Board (which body is in this Act referred to as “the Board”) to perform the functions assigned to it by this Act.
	(2) The provisions of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the Board.
	Functions of...