Number 21 of 1956.
MINISTERS AND SECRETARIES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1956.
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section | |
Acts Referred to | |
No. 24 of 1925 | |
No. 16 of 1924 | |
No. 36 of 1939 | |
Number 21 of 1956.
MINISTERS AND SECRETARIES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1956.
Appointed day.
1.—The Government may by order appoint a day to be the appointed day for the purposes of this Act.
The Gaeltacht.
2.—(1) For the purposes of this Act the Gaeltacht shall comprise the areas for the time being determined to be Gaeltacht areas by order under this section.
(2) The Government may from time to time by order determine to be Gaeltacht areas specified areas, being substantially Irish-speaking areas and areas contiguous thereto which, in the opinion of the Government, ought to be included in the Gaeltacht with a view to preserving and extending the use of Irish as a vernacular language.
(3) The Government may by order revoke or amend any order under this section.
(4) Every order 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 under the order.
The Department of the Gaeltacht.
3.—(1) On the appointed day a Department of State to be styled and known as the Department of the Gaeltacht shall stand established.
(2) It shall be the function of the Department of the Gaeltacht to promote the cultural, social and economic welfare of the Gaeltacht; to encourage the preservation and extension of the use of Irish as a vernacular language; and, to such extent as may be necessary or appropriate, to consult and advise with other Departments of State in respect of services administered by such Departments which affect the cultural, social or economic welfare of the Gaeltacht or which concern the national aim of restoring the Irish language.
(3) The member of the Government who is in charge of the Department of the Gaeltacht shall be styled and known as the Minister for the Gaeltacht.
(4) The Ministers and Secretaries Acts, 1924 to 1946 and the Documentary Evidence Act, 1925 (No. 24 of 1925), shall apply to the Department of the Gaeltacht and the member of the Government who is in charge thereof as if that Department had been established by section 1 of the Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924 (No. 16 of 1924).
(5) For the purposes of subsection (1) of section 6 of the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 1939 (No. 36 of 1939), the Department of the Gaeltacht and the office of Minister for the Gaeltacht shall be deemed to have been established immediately upon the passing of this Act, but any order which is made, in relation to that Department or that Minister, under the said subsection (1) before the appointed day shall not be expressed to come into operation on a date earlier than the appointed day.
Short title, construction and citation.
4.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 1956.
(2) This Act shall be construed as one with the Ministers and Secretaries Acts, 1924 to 1946, and this Act and those Acts may be cited together as the Ministers and Secretaries Acts, 1924 to 1956.