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23 1941

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1941

PART II.

Offices and Employments Under Local Authorities.

Chapter I.

General.

Additional local authorities for purposes of this Part of this Act.

6. —In addition to the bodies specified in sub-section (2) of section 2 of this Act, every sub-committee appointed by a local pensions committee under section 8 of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1908, shall be a local authority for the purposes of this Part of this Act.

“Office”.

7. —In this Part of this Act the word “office”, when used without qualification, means an office under a local authority.

The appropriate Minister.

8. —(1) Subject to the provisions of the next following sub-section of this section, the Minister shall be the appropriate Minister for the purposes of this Part of this Act.

(2) Where, in the opinion of the Minister, the duties of a particular office or of offices of a particular class or description relate wholly or mainly to the functions of another Minister of State, the Minister may, with the consent of such other Minister, by order provide that such other Minister shall for the purposes of this Part of this Act be the appropriate Minister in relation to such office or offices and holders thereof and thereupon such other Minister shall for the said purposes be the appropriate Minister in relation to such office or offices and holders thereof.

(3) Where a Minister of State, by virtue of an order under the immediately preceding sub-section of this section, is for the purposes of this Part of this Act the appropriate Minister in relation to any office or officer, such Minister shall not exercise in relation to the remuneration of such office or officer any power conferred on the appropriate Minister by this Part of this Act save after consultation with the Minister.

(4) In this Part of this Act the expression “the appropriate Minister” means such Minister of State as is appropriate in each case having regard to the provisions of this section and the orders made thereunder.

“Major office.”

9. —(1) In this Part of this Act the expression “major office” means any office declared to be a major office by a declaration made or deemed to have been made under this section.

(2) The appropriate Minister may declare a specified office in relation to which he is the appropriate Minister or such of the offices in relation to which he is the appropriate Minister as belong to a specified class, description, or grade to be a major office or major offices (as the case may be).

(3) Every order in force immediately before the commencement of this section whereby an office is prescribed by the Minister to be an office to which section 15 of the Act of 1923 applies shall, upon and after such commencement, be deemed to be a declaration made by the appropriate Minister under this section declaring such office to be a major office and to be capable of being revoked or amended accordingly.

General provision in relation to appointments, duties, and remunerations.

10. —(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act—

(a) every local authority may appoint such officers and employ such servants as are necessary for the performance of the functions for the time being of such local authority;

(b) every officer appointed or servant employed by a local authority shall perform such duties and be paid such remuneration as such local authority may from time to time assign to him.

(2) Any officer of a local authority who is aggrieved by a decision of such local authority in relation to his remuneration, duties, or conditions of service may appeal against such decision to the appropriate Minister in the prescribed manner and on notice to such local authority and the appropriate Minister, after consideration of such appeal and of the representations (if any) of such local authority in relation thereto, shall either (as he thinks proper) refuse such appeal or give to such local authority such direction as the appropriate Minister considers will remedy the grievance of such officer.

(3) Any local authority to whom a direction is given under the immediately preceding sub-section of this section shall comply with such direction.

Directions to appoint officers.

11. —The appropriate Minister may by order direct the kind and number of the officers to be appointed by a local authority for any purpose, and thereupon it shall be the duty of such local authority from time to time to appoint for that purpose such and so many (and no other) officers as may be necessary to conform with the requirements of such order.

Determination of certain doubts, etc.

12. —Where any doubt, dispute, or question arises or, in the opinion of the Minister, is likely to arise as to whether any particular position under a local authority is or is not for the purposes of this Act or of any of the Acts which may be collectively cited with this Act an office or as to whether any particular person is or is not for any of the said purposes an officer, such doubt, dispute, or question shall be decided by the Minister and such decision shall be final.

Revocation and amendment of Orders, etc., under this Part of this Act.

13. —Every power conferred by any section of this Part of this Act to make any order, regulation, direction, or declaration, shall be construed as including a power to revoke or amend any order, regulation, direction, or declaration made under such section.

Continuance of certain Orders.

14. —Every order by whomsoever made which is lawfully in force immediately before the commencement of this section and which—

(a) directs the kind or number of the officers to be appointed by a local authority for any purpose, or

(b) determines the duties, conditions of service, or remuneration of any office, or

(c) regulates the continuance in office of holders of any office,

shall, from and after such commencement and in so far as it is not inconsistent with this Part of this Act, continue in force and be deemed to be made by the appropriate Minister under this Part of this Act and to be capable of being amended or revoked accordingly.

Preservation of necessity for sanction of Minister for Finance.

15. —Notwithstanding anything contained in this Part of this Act, where, by any enactment in force immediately before the commencement of this section, the sanction of the Minister for Finance is required in fixing or altering the remuneration of any officer, the remuneration of such officer shall not be fixed or altered after the commencement of this section without the sanction of the said Minister.

Application of this Part of this Act to existing officers.

16. —The fact that an officer is in office at the commencement of any section of this Part of this Act shall not be a ground for contending that such section does not apply in relation to such officer.

Exclusion of certain offices from this Part of this Act.

17. —For the purposes of this Part of this Act, the following offices shall be deemed not to be offices under a local authority and every holder, as such, of any of those offices shall be deemed not to be an officer of a local authority, that is to say:—

(a) the office of coroner,

(b) the office under the Courthouses (Provision and Maintenance) Act, 1935 (No. 18 of 1935), of caretaker of courthouse accommodation,

(c) the office under the said Act of assistant to the care-taker of courthouse accommodation,

(d) the office under the Pounds (Provision and Maintenance) Act, 1935 (No. 17 of 1935), of pound-keeper, and

(e) the office under the said Act of assistant to a pound-keeper.

Repeal of certain powers and conditions.

18. —(1) In this section the expression “power to which this section applies” means a power to do any of the following things in relation to any office other than an office of county manager under a council of a county or an office of city manager under a corporation of a county borough, that is to say:—

(a) to remove from office,

(b) to fix or sanction remuneration,

(c) to prescribe qualifications,

(d) to assign duties,

(e) to define or regulate conditions of service,

(f) to require the giving of security or fix the amount or nature of such security,

(g) to provide for the performance by deputy of duties.

(2) So much of any enactment in force immediately before the commencement of this section as confers a power to which this section applies on any Minister of State, local authority, or other person is hereby repealed.

(3) So much of any enactment in force immediately before the commencement of this section as imposes any conditions on the exercise of a power to which this section applies conferred on the appropriate Minister or a local authority by or under this Part of this Act is hereby repealed.