PART VI.

Licences to Sell Fresh Fish.

32. —(1) The Minister may by order declare that any specified area in the State shall as on and from the date stated in that behalf in the order be a district to which this Part applies and thereupon such area shall, as on and from that day and so long as the order remains in force, be a district to which this Part applies.

(2) The Minister may at any time by order revoke or amend an order made under this section.

(3) Every order made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either House within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

33. —(1) The Minister may grant a licence (in this Part referred to as a fish sales licence) to sell by auction fresh fish or to act as agent for the sale by wholesale of fresh fish or to do both those things to any person who—

(a) applies in the prescribed form and manner, and

(b) satisfies the Minister that he is a fit and proper person to hold a fish sales licence, and

(c) is not an undischarged bankrupt.

(2) Every fish sales licence shall—

(a) be in the prescribed form, and

(b) be expressed and operate to license the person to whom it is granted to sell by auction fresh fish and to act as agent for the sale by wholesale of fresh fish, and

(c) be subject to such conditions as the Minister thinks fit and are expressed therein.

34. —Every fish sales licence shall, unless sooner revoked under this Part, remain in force for one year from the date thereof and shall then expire.

35. —(1) There shall be paid on the grant of every fish sales licence such fee as may be fixed by the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, and the payment of the fee shall be a condition precedent to the grant of a licence.

(2) This section shall not apply to any person holding a licence by virtue of the provisions of the Auctioneers and House Agents Act, 1947.

36. —(1) If any person being the holder of a fish sales licence is convicted of an offence under the Fisheries Acts, 1842 to 1949, or under this Act, or is convicted of an offence involving fraud, dishonesty or breach of trust, the Minister may, within three months after such conviction, revoke the licence.

(2) Where the Minister proposes to consider the revocation of a fish sales licence he shall send by registered post to the holder thereof notice of his intention and of the fact that representations may be made by such holder within such period as shall be specified in the notice and the Minister shall consider any representations so made.

37. —(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, it shall not be lawful for any person in any district to which this Part applies to sell by auction any fresh fish or to act as agent for the sale by wholesale of any fresh fish unless he holds a fish sales licence for the time being in force.

(2) Every person who acts in contravention of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof in the case of a first offence to a fine not exceeding ten pounds and in the case of a second or any subsequent offence to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

(3) This section shall not apply to any person who sells by auction fresh fish or who acts as agent for the sale by wholesale of fresh fish at the seashore or quayside upon such fish being first landed or to any person who is for the time being a duly authorised agent or representative of the Board.

38. —(1) The Minister shall cause to be kept a register to be called and known as the register of fish sales licences in which there shall be entered particulars of all fish sales licences granted under this Part.

(2) Any person may inspect the register of fish sales licences on payment of such fee, not exceeding one shilling, as shall be prescribed.

39. —A certificate purporting to be under the hand of an officer of the Minister authorised in that behalf by the Minister and certifying that a person named in the certificate was not the holder of a fish sales licence on a specified date or during a specified period shall until the contrary is proved be evidence of the facts so certified and it shall not be necessary to prove the signature of such officer or that he was in fact such officer or was so authorised.

40. —(1) All fees payable under this Part shall be collected and taken in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall from time to time direct and shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in accordance with the directions of the said Minister.

(2) The Public Offices Fees Act, 1879, shall not apply in respect of any fees payable under this Part.

41. —The Sea Fisheries Act, 1931 (No. 4 of 1931), is hereby repealed.