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9 1934

WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION ACT, 1934

PART VIII.

Application of this Act to Special Classes of Persons.

Application to workmen in the employment of the State.

64. —(1) This Act applies to workmen employed by or under the State to whom this Act would apply if the employer were a private person and, for the purposes of such application, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) the Minister for Finance shall be deemed to be the employer, and

(b) notwithstanding anything in any other enactment, proceedings under this Act may be brought against the said Minister without obtaining the fiat of the Attorney-General.

(2) The Minister for Finance may, by warrant laid before each House of the Oireachtas, modify for the purposes of this Act the warrant made under section 1 of the Superannuation Act, 1887, and may notwithstanding anything in that Act, or any such warrant, frame schemes with a view to their being certified by the Registrar of Friendly Societies in Saorstát Eireann under this Act.

Application to men being trained or engaged in rescue work in mines.

65. —(1) When provision has been made in pursuance of regulations under the Coal Mines Act, 1911, or under any order which has effect as if made under that Act, for the formation or training of a rescue brigade, any accident caused to a workman employed in or about a mine to which that Act applies, who is with the consent of his employer being trained as a member of the rescue brigade, and arising out of and in the course of his training, shall, for the purpose of this Act, be deemed to arise out of and in the course of his employment in the mine.

(2) Any workman engaged in any rescue work or ambulance work at any such mine shall for the purposes of this Act, be deemed while so engaged to be employed by the owner of the mine, as defined by the Coal Mines Act, 1911.

Application of Act to crews of certain ships.

66. —(1) This Act applies to masters, seamen and apprentices to the sea service and apprentices in the sea-fishing service who are workmen within the meaning of this Act and are members of the crew of any ship to which this section applies, subject to the following modifications, that is to say:—

(a) the notice of accident may, except where the person injured is the master, be given to the master of the ship as if he were the employer, but where the accident happened and the incapacity commenced on board the ship it shall not be necessary to give any notice of the accident;

(b) the provisions of sub-sections (1) and (2) of section 29 (which relates to notices of accidents in mines and factories) of this Act shall apply to ships and the masters thereof in like manner as it applies to factories and the occupiers thereof;

(c) in case of the death of the master, seaman or apprentice, proceedings to recover compensation shall be commenced within six months after news of the death by accident has been received by the claimant;

(d) where—

(i) an injured master, seaman, or apprentice is discharged or left behind in any country outside Saorstát Eireann, and

(ii) proceedings are taken under this Act by or in respect of such master, seaman or apprentice, and

(iii) the deposition of any witness respecting the circumstances and nature of the injury has been taken in any such country on oath by a person entitled by the law to take in that country affidavits for use in matters before the High Court, and

(iv) such deposition purports to be sealed with the seal and to have affixed thereto the signature of such person,

such deposition shall, upon due proof that such witness is not in Saorstát Eireann, be received in such proceedings as prima facie evidence of the matters stated therein without proof of the seal or signature of such person or of the status or official character of such person;

(e) in the case of the death of a master, seaman or apprentice leaving no dependants, no compensation shall be payable if the owner of the ship is, under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, liable to pay the expenses of burial;

(f) the weekly payment shall not be payable in respect of the period during which the owner of the ship is, under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, as amended by any subsequent enactments, or otherwise, liable to defray the expenses of the injured master, seaman or apprentice;

(g) any sum payable by way of compensation by the owner of a ship under this Act shall be paid in full notwithstanding anything in section 503 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, but the limitation on the owner's liability imposed by that section shall apply to the amount recoverable by way of indemnity under section 61 (which relates to remedies both against employer and stranger) of this Act, as if the indemnity were damages for loss of life or personal injury;

(h) sub-sections (2) and (3) of section 174 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, shall apply as respects proceedings for the recovery of compensation by dependants of masters, seamen and apprentices lost with their ship as they apply with respect to proceedings for the recovery of wages due to seamen and apprentices, and proceedings for the recovery of compensation shall in such case be maintained if they are commenced within 18 months of the date at which the ship is deemed to be lost with all hands.

(2) This Act shall not by virtue of the immediately preceding sub-section apply to such members of the crew of a fishing boat which is a ship to which this section applies as are remunerated wholly or mainly by shares in the profits or the gross earnings of the working of such boat.

(3) For the purposes of this section a pilot to whom the Pilotage Act, 1913, applies shall when employed on any ship to which this section applies be deemed to be a seaman and a member of the crew of such ship.

(4) This section applies to—

(a) every ship registered in Saorstát Eireann under the Merchant Shipping Acts, and also

(b) every ship not so registered which complies with the following conditions, namely—

(i) either is a ship qualified for registry in Saorstát Eireann under the Merchant Shipping Acts, or a ship qualified for registry outside Saorstát Eireann under the said Acts, or a ship registered outside Saorstát Eireann under the said Acts; and

(ii) is a ship of which the owner, or (if there is more than one owner) the managing owner, or the manager resides or has his principal place of business in Saorstát Eireann.

Application of Act to persons (other than seamen) employed on certain ships.

67. —This Act applies to any person not being a master, seaman or apprentice to the sea service or the sea fishing service, employed on board any ship to which the immediately preceding section applies, if he is so employed for the purposes of such ship or of any passengers or cargo or mails carried by such ship and if he is otherwise a workman within the meaning of this Act.

Extension of Act to certain share-fishermen.

68. —(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, this Act shall not apply to such members of the crew of a fishing boat as are remunerated wholly or mainly by shares in the profits or gross earnings of the workings of such boat.

(2) The Minister may by order under this section declare that this Act, subject to such modifications as may be specified in such order, shall apply to such members of the crew of a fishing boat as are remunerated wholly or mainly by shares in the profits or the gross earnings of the workings of such boat, and whenever such an order is made and has come into force this Act shall with such modifications as are specified in such order, apply to such members.

(3) An order under this section shall not come into force until it has been laid before each House of the Oireachtas for a period of not less than twenty-one days during which that House has sat, and if during that period either House passes a resolution against such order or any part thereof, no further proceedings shall be taken thereon, but without prejudice to the making of a new order.

Detention of ships.

69. —(1) If it is alleged that the owners of any ship are liable as such owners to pay compensation under this Act, and at any time that ship is found in any port or river of Saorstát Eireann or within three miles of the coast thereof, a judge of the High Court or Circuit Court may, upon its being shown to him by any person applying in accordance with the Rules of the Court that the owners are probably liable as such to pay such compensation,

and that none of the owners reside in Saorstát Eireann, issue an order directed to any officer of customs and excise or other person named by the judge requiring him to detain the ship until such time as the owners, agent, master, or consignee thereof have paid such compensation, or have given security, to be approved by the judge, to abide the event of any proceedings that may be instituted to recover such compensation and to pay such compensation and costs as may be awarded thereon; and any officer of customs and excise or other person to whom the order is directed shall detain the ship accordingly.

(2) In any legal proceeding to recover such compensation, the person giving security shall be made defendant, and the production of the order of the judge, made in relation to the security, shall be conclusive evidence of the liability of the defendant to the proceeding.

(3) Where a complaint is made to the Minister that before an application can be made under this section the ship in respect of which the application is to be made will have departed from the limits within which she can be arrested, the ship shall, if the Minister so directs, be detained for such time as will allow the application to be made and the result thereof to be communicated to the officer or person detaining the ship, and that officer or person shall not be liable for any costs or damages in respect of the detention, if made in accordance with the directions of the Minister.

(4) Section 692 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, shall apply to the detention of a ship under this Act as it applies to the detention of a ship under that Act, and, if the owner of a ship is a corporation, it shall for the purposes of this section be deemed to reside in Saorstát Eireann if it has an office in Saorstát Eireann at which service can be effected.

(5) Where a ship has been demised to charterers, the provisions of this section shall apply to claims against the charterers of the ship as they apply to claims against the owners of a ship with the substitution of charterers for owners; subject however to this provision, namely, that no ship shall be detained on a claim against the charterers of the ship after the expiration of the term for which the ship is demised to them.

Conventions with other States.

70. —Where any Convention providing for reciprocity in matters relating to compensation to workmen for injuries by accident has been entered into by or on behalf of Saorstát

Eireann with any other State, or any Convention providing for reciprocity in matters relating to compensation to workmen for injuries by accident of the International Labour Organisation of the League of Nations has been duly ratified by or on behalf of Saorstát Eireann and any other State, it shall be lawful for the Executive Council by order to make provision in relation to all or any of the following matters—

(a) the modification of this Act in its application to cases affected by such Convention, so, however, as not to alter the amount of the compensation in any case to which this Act may apply;

(b) the determination, in cases where rights to compensation accrue both under this Act and under the law of such other State of the question whether the workman shall be entitled to recover compensation under this Act or under the law of such other State;

(c) the conferring on the Court powers for the admission of evidence taken outside Saorstát Eireann and the procuring and taking of evidence for use outside Saorstát Eireann, or otherwise for the purpose of facilitating proceedings for the recovering of compensation under the respective laws in Saorstát Eireann and such other State.

(2) In particular, but without derogating from the generality of the provisions of the foregoing sub-section, any order made under this section may make such modifications in this Act in its application to workmen who are French citizens as appear to the Executive Council to be necessary to give effect to a Convention (a copy whereof is set out in the Schedule to the Workmen's Compensation (Anglo-French Convention) Act, 1909) signed at Paris on the third day of July, nineteen hundred and nine, and this Act shall apply to such workmen subject to the modifications contained in such order.