First Previous (PART IX. Enforcement of the Act.) Next (FIRST SCHEDULE. Enactments Repealed.)

28 1947

HEALTH ACT, 1947

PART X.

Miscellaneous Provisions.

Consultative Councils.

98. —(1) The Minister shall by order establish a council to be called “The National Health Council” to give to the Minister when so required by him advice on matters affecting or incidental to the health of the people.

(2) The Minister shall cause the name of every person who is appointed to be a member of the National Health Council to be published as soon as may be in Iris Oifigiúil.

(3) The Minister may, if at any time he requires special advice or assistance in connection with a particular matter relating to his powers and functions, by order establish a special consultative council to give in the manner specified in the order such advice or assistance.

(4) The Minister may by order determine the tenure of office of the members and the procedure of the National Health Council or of any consultative council established under this section.

(5) The Minister may, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas and to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, pay to the members of the National Health Council or any consultative council established under this section or of any committee of such council:—

(a) travelling expenses,

(b) subsistence allowances.

(6) The National Health Council and every consultative council established under this section shall consist of persons having practical experience or special knowledge of the matters in respect of which they are to give advice and assistance.

Dissemination of information and advice on health.

99. —(1) Information and advice on matters relating to health may be disseminated by the Minister or by a health authority by advertisements, notices, pamphlets, lectures, radio, cinema exhibitions or any other means.

(2) The Minister may by order direct every health authority, every health authority of a particular class or a particular health authority as to the subjects in relation to which, the manner in which and the extent to which they are to exercise their powers under subsection (1) of this section and a health authority to which any such direction relates shall comply therewith.

Tests of the quality and nature of substances.

100. —(1) The Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may for the purposes of his powers and duties make arrangements for the carrying out of tests, examinations and analyses of the quality or nature of substances.

(2) The Minister may by regulation do any of the following things in relation to tests, examinations, or analyses arranged for under subsection (1) of this section, that is to say:—

(a) prescribe the classes of persons to be responsible for the carrying out of such tests, examinations and analyses;

(b) prescribe the means by and the manner in which the test, examination or analysis is to be made;

(c) prescribe the certificate or other evidence to be given of the result of any test, examination or analysis and the classes of persons by and to whom such certificate or evidence is to be given;

(d) provide that any certificate or other evidence prescribed under paragraph (c) of this subsection and given in respect of the test, examination or analysis of a sample of a substance shall as respects that sample be evidence for all purposes of the result of such test.

(3) Whenever regulations made under subsection (2) of this section provide that any particular certificate or other evidence shall be evidence for all purposes of the result of a test, examination or analysis of a sample of a substance, such certificate or other evidence shall, as respects those samples, be accepted by all Courts of Justice as evidence of the result of such test and shall also be accepted by all Courts of Justice as evidence that such test was carried out under and in accordance with the regulations.

Joint action by health authorities.

101. —(1) The Minister may by order provide for and authorise joint action by two or more health authorities in the performance of any function given to them by or under this Act, and the order may contain, in particular, provisions specifying the manner in which the joint action is to be taken and the method of apportioning the expenses of the joint action.

(2) Where immediately before the commencement of this section an institution was maintained by two or more health authorities jointly, the Minister may by order under subsection (1) of this section provide for and authorise the continuance of such joint maintenance under Part II of this Act.

(3) Where an order under subsection (1) of this section is in force in relation to two or more health authorities, any reference in Part II of this Act to a health authority shall be construed as including a reference to such health authorities jointly.

Home nursing.

102. —A health authority may, with the consent of the Minister, make arrangements for the provision of a nurse or nurses to give to any person requiring the same, advice and assistance on matters relating to health and to assist sick persons.

Borrowing by health authority.

103. —(1) A health authority may with the consent of the Minister for Local Government borrow for the purposes of defraying any expenses incurred by them in the same manner in which a sanitary authority may borrow for the purpose of defraying expenses under the Public Health Acts, 1878 to 1931, and the provisions of those Acts in relation to borrowing by a sanitary authority shall, with the necessary modifications, apply in relation to borrowing by a health authority under this section.

(2) Money borrowed by the council of a county under this section shall not, for the purposes of Article 22 of the Schedule to the Local Government (Application of Enactments) Order, 1898, be deemed to be part of the debt of the council.

(3) Money borrowed under this section may be lent by means of an issue from the local loans fund as if such loan constituted a local loan within the meaning of the Local Loans Fund Acts, 1935 to 1945, and was authorised by an Act of the Oireachtas.

Provision of ambulances.

104. —(1) A health authority may make arrangements for providing ambulances or other means of transport for the conveyance of patients from places in their functional area to places in or outside such area or from places outside their functional area to places in such area.

(2) Where a person makes use of an ambulance provided under this section, a health authority may, at their discretion but subject to any relevant regulations under section 31 of this Act:—

(a) make a charge for such use in accordance with regulations made by them, or

(b) make no charge therefor.

(3) A charge under subsection (2) of this section for the use of an ambulance by any person may be recovered as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction from:—

(a) such person, or, in case such person has died, his legal personal representative, or

(b) any other person liable to maintain such person for the purposes of the Public Assistance Act, 1939 (No. 27 of 1939), by virtue of section 27 of that Act or, in case such other person has died, his legal personal representative.

Provision of residences for officers and servants.

105. —A health authority may, with the approval of the Minister, and shall, if the Minister so directs, provide and maintain residences for the use of officers appointed or servants employed by them.

Amendment of Rats and Mice (Destruction) Act, 1919.

106. —The definition of the expression “occupier” in section 8 of the Rats and Mice (Destruction) Act, 1919, shall be amended by the insertion at the end thereof of the words “or in any other case the person for the time being liable to pay rates on such land.”

Dissolution of Port Sanitary Authorities.

107. —(1) The Minister after consultation with the Minister for Local Government may by order dissolve a port sanitary authority.

(2) An order under this section dissolving a port sanitary authority shall contain such provisions as the Minister thinks necessary or expedient consequential on the dissolution of such port sanitary authority and may, in particular, make provision for:—

(a) the transfer of property, rights and liabilities of the port sanitary authority to a health authority,

(b) the preservation of continuing contracts made by the port sanitary authority,

(c) the continuance of pending legal proceedings,

(d) the transfer of the holders of offices under the port sanitary authority to similar offices under a health authority, or the abolition of such offices.

(3) Where, by an order under this section, the holder of an office under a port sanitary authority is transferred to an office under a health authority, the first-mentioned office shall, for the purposes of any enactment relating to superannuation, be deemed not to have been abolished.

(4) In this section the expression “port sanitary authority” means a port sanitary authority constituted under Section 9 of the Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1896.

Compensation for damage to person or property.

108. —(1) Subject to the provisions of subsection (2) of this section any person who suffers damage by reason of an injury to his property caused by a health authority or their officers or servants in the exercise of their powers or the performance of their duties under any of the provisions of this Act except Part VIII in a matter in which he is not in default shall be entitled to recover compensation for such damage from such health authority.

(2) A person shall not be entitled to recover compensation from a health authority in respect of injury to his property caused by any measures taken for the cleansing, disinfection, disinfestation or destruction of such property where such property has been knowingly and unnecessarily exposed to infection or infestation.

(3) Any person who suffers damage by reason of injury to his person caused by the negligence of a health authority or of any of their officers or servants in the exercise of their powers or performance of their duties under this Act shall be entitled to recover compensation for such damage from such health authority.

(4) The personal representative of any person whose death is caused by the negligence of a health authority or of any of their officers or servants in the exercise of their powers or performance of their duties under this Act shall be entitled to recover damages from the health authority in respect of such death in an action brought under the Fatal Accidents Acts, 1846 to 1908.

Adaptation of enactments.

109. —(1) The Minister may by order make, in respect of any statute, order or regulation in force at the passing of this Act and relating to any matter or thing dealt with or affected by this Act, any adaptations or modifications which appear to him to be necessary to enable such statute, order or regulation to have effect in conformity with this Act.

(2) Every order made by the Minister 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 such House within the next subsequent 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.