PART II.

Expenses of Certain Local Authorities.

7. —The fund maintained immediately before the commencement of this section by the council of a county pursuant to section 47 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, shall, notwithstanding the repeal of that section by this Act, continue to be maintained by the council and shall be known as the county fund.

8. —(1) A sum received by the council of a county, whether from rates or from sources other than rates, shall be paid to the treasurer of the council and, save as provided by subsection (2) of this section, only the receipt of the treasurer shall be a good discharge to the person paying the sum.

(2) The receipt of a collector of rates of the council of a county or of any person duly authorised by the council of a county to receive payments of any other particular class shall be a good discharge to a person making a payment (as the case may be) of rates to such collector or of such particular class to such authorised person, but in every such case it shall be the duty of the rate collector or authorised person to whom the payment is made to pay the amount thereof to the treasurer of the council within such time as may be specified by the council or by regulations of the Minister for payments of its class or, if no such time has been so specified, forthwith.

(3) The treasurer of the council of a county shall pay a sum received by him under this section—

(a) if the sum is paid for the purposes of a voluntary civic improvement fund, into that fund, and

(b) in any other case, into the county fund.

9. —(1) The expenses incurred by the council of a county in the exercise and performance of their powers and duties (including expenses of discharging liabilities existing at the commencement of this section but not including expenses defrayable out of a voluntary civic improvement fund) shall be defrayed by the treasurer of the council out of the county fund.

(2) A payment shall not be made out of the county fund of the council of a county unless it is authorised in accordance with section 21 of the County Management Act, 1940 (No. 12 of 1940), or ordered by a court of justice.

10. —(1) Expenses of the council of a county shall, save where it is otherwise provided by law, be charged equally over the whole of the county.

(2) Expenses of the council of a county which are charged over the whole of the county shall be known as county-at-large charges.

(3) Expenses of the council of a county which are charged on an urban area in the county shall be known as urban charges.

(4) Expenses of the council of a county which are incurred in meeting a demand made by the commissioners of a town under subsection (1) of section 26 of this Act shall consist of—

(a) the amount of the said demand, and

(b) a sum (which shall not, without the consent of the Minister, exceed seven and one half per cent. of the amount of the said demand) equal to the estimated amount of rates to be written off as irrecoverable and the costs of collection,

and such expenses shall be charged on the area of the town and shall be known as town charges.

(5) If at the time when the estimate of expenses of a county council for a local financial year is considered in pursuance of section 24 of the County Management Act, 1940 (No. 12 of 1940) the area on which a portion of such expenses is properly chargeable cannot yet be determined, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say :—

(a) such portion shall be included in such estimate in the prescribed manner as a county-at-large charge and raised accordingly by means of the county rate for the said year;

(b) provision shall be made in the prescribed manner in the accounts of the council for determining how much (if any) of such portion should have been charged on any area other than the whole of the county;

(c) if, in accordance with paragraph (b) of this subsection, it is determined that any amount should have been charged on an area other than the whole of the county an appropriate adjustment shall be made in the prescribed manner in the county rate for a subsequent year by means of an increase in the sum charged on such area and a reduction in the county-at-large charges.

(6) Where expenses of the council of a county are charged on an area consisting of both an area which is not an urban area and either an urban area or two or more urban areas—

(a) the amount of the expenses to be charged on the portion of the area of charge which is not an urban area shall be the amount which bears to the total amount of the expenses the same proportion as the valuation of that portion bears to the valuation of the area of charge, and

(b) the amount of the expenses to be charged on the urban area or each urban area (as the case may be) shall be the amount which bears to the total amount of the expenses the same proportion as the valuation of such urban area bears to the valuation of the area of charge.

(7) For the purposes of subsection (6) of this section, the valuation of an area shall be the total of the valuations appearing in the valuation lists for the time being in force under the Valuation Acts of all the hereditaments in the area.

11. —(1) The council of a county shall obtain the moneys necessary to supply any deficiency (whether actual or prospective) in the county fund as follows :

(a) where the deficiency arises from expenses charged wholly on an area which is not an urban area, the council shall raise the amount of the expenses equally over that area by means of the poor rate,

(b) where the deficiency arises from expenses charged wholly on an urban area, the council shall demand the amount of the expenses from the urban authority of the urban area in the prescribed form and manner,

(c) where the deficiency arises from expenses charged as to part on an area which is not an urban area and as to the remainder on an urban area or two or more urban areas, the council shall raise so much of the expenses as is charged on the area which is not an urban area equally over that area by means of the poor rate and—

(i) where the remainder of the expenses is charged on one urban area, shall demand the amount of such remainder from the urban authority of the urban area in the prescribed form and manner, and

(ii) where the remainder of the expenses is charged on two or more urban areas, shall demand the portion of such remainder charged on each urban area from the urban authority of such urban area in the prescribed form and manner.

(2) An urban authority shall pay to the council of the county in which their urban area is situated a sum demanded by the council under this section.

12. —(1) The poor rate raised pursuant to section 11 of this Act by the council of a county shall be known as the county rate.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall be construed as effecting a change of name only and shall not prejudice the existence of the poor rate nor the effect of any reference to it in any statutory or other enactment, but, for the purposes of conforming to such change of name, for every reference to the poor rate in any resolution, notice, rate book or other, document passed or used by the council of a county in the making, levying, collecting or recovery of rates, there shall be substituted, in the case of the county rate, a reference to that rate, and every form used for the purpose of the making, levying, collecting or recovery of poor rate shall, in its application in respect of the county rate, be amended accordingly.

13. —(1) The following provisions shall apply in relation to any portion of the county rate made by the council of a county for the purposes of a deficiency in the county fund arising from town charges :—

(a) such portion shall be assessed and made separately from the remainder of the county rate,

(b) for the purposes of such assessment, the valuation of a hereditament of any of the following classes shall be reduced to one quarter of the actual valuation under the Valuation Acts of the hereditament :—

(i) land used solely for one or more of the following purposes, that is to say, as arable, meadow or pasture ground or as woodlands, or market gardens, or nursery grounds,

(ii) land covered with water and used as a canal and any towing path to the same,

(iii) land used as a railway constructed under statutory powers for public conveyance,

(c) no assessment shall be made on any half-rent rateable to the poor rate under section 63 of the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act, 1838, and the enactments amending the same.

(2) Nothing in this section shall apply to or operate to reduce the annual value with reference to which the tax in respect of any hereditament under Schedules A and B of the Income Tax Act, 1918, is ascertained.

14. —(1) Where a hereditament which is situated in a county but not in an urban area and which is not a small dwelling within the meaning of the Local Government (Rates on Small Dwellings) Act, 1928 (No. 4 of 1928), is unoccupied at the making of the county rate, such rate shall be made upon the person (in this section referred to as the owner) who is for the time being entitled to occupy the hereditament and, upon such rate being paid by the owner, he shall be entitled to claim and receive from the council of the county a refund of one-twelfth of such rate in respect of every completed month (reckoned from any day of one month to the corresponding day of the next month) during which the hereditament is unoccupied either for the purpose of the execution of additions, alterations or repairs thereto or because the owner is bona fide unable to obtain a suitable tenant therefor, in the case of a hereditament to which the Rent Restrictions Act, 1946 (No. 4 of 1946), for the time being applies, at the maximum rent for the time being permitted under that Act or, in the case of any other hereditament, at a reasonable rent.

(2) Where—

(a) a rate is made by virtue of this section on the owner of an unoccupied hereditament, and

(b) the hereditament is subsequently let by or on behalf of the owner, and

(c) the rate or any part thereof is in arrear and unpaid,

the rate collector by whom the rate is collectible may, in addition to and without prejudice to any other remedy for the recovery of the amount of the rate so in arrear and unpaid, serve either personally or by post on the occupier of the hereditament a notice stating the said amount so in arrear and unpaid and requiring the occupier to pay to the rate collector or his successor in office all rent then due or thereafter to become due by him in respect of the hereditament until the said amount is by such payment or otherwise discharged, and thereupon the rate collector or his successor in office shall have the exclusive right to recover, receive and give a good discharge for all rent required by the notice to be paid to him.

(3) A rate made by virtue of this section on the owner of an unoccupied hereditament shall not be invalidated by any error or defect in the statement of the name of the owner or by the use of the description “the owner” without any name or addition, and the rate shall be recoverable from the owner notwithstanding any such error or defect or the use of any such description.

15. —(1) An urban authority shall establish and maintain a fund to be known as the municipal fund.

(2) A sinking fund or any other fund (not being a voluntary civic improvement fund) to meet a future or prospective liability which an urban authority is required by or under statute to maintain shall be maintained out of the municipal fund.

(3) A fund which was maintained by an urban authority immediately before the commencement of this section and which was neither a sinking fund nor other fund to meet a future or prospective liability which the urban authority was required by or under statute to maintain nor a voluntary civic improvement fund shall cease to be maintained and—

(a) if any moneys were standing to the credit of the fund immediately before such commencement, they shall be paid into the municipal fund, and

(b) if any liability stood attached to the fund immediately before such commencement, it shall attach to and be discharged out of the municipal fund.

16. —(1) A sum received by an urban authority, whether from rates or a source other than rates, shall be paid to the treasurer of the authority and, save as provided by subsection (2) of this section, only the receipt of the treasurer shall be a good discharge to a person paying the sum.

(2) The receipt of a collector of rates of an urban authority or of any person duly authorised by an urban authority to receive payments of any other particular class shall be a good discharge to a person making a payment (as the case may be) of rates to such collector or of such particular class to such authorised person, but in every such case it shall be the duty of the rate collector or authorised person to whom the payment is made to pay the amount thereof to the treasurer of the urban authority within such time as may be specified by the authority or by regulations of the Minister for payments of its class, or if no such time has been so specified, forthwith.

(3) The treasurer of an urban authority shall pay a sum received by him under this section—

(a) if the sum is paid for the purposes of a voluntary civic improvement fund, into that fund, and

(b) in any other case, into the municipal fund.

17. —(1) The expenses incurred by an urban authority in the exercise and performance of their powers and duties (including expenses of discharging liabilities existing at the commencement of this section but not including expenses defrayable out of a voluntary civic improvement fund) shall be defrayed by the treasurer of the authority out of the municipal fund.

(2) A payment shall not be made out of the municipal fund of an urban authority unless it is either authorised in accordance with section 21 of the County Management Act, 1940 (No. 12 of 1940), or ordered by a court of justice.

18. —(1) An urban authority shall from time to time make, assess and levy equally over their urban area, in accordance with this Part of this Act, such rate (to be known as the municipal rate) as may be necessary for the purpose of supplying any deficiency (whether actual or prospective) in the municipal fund.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, the law for the time being in force in relation to the making, assessment, levying, collection and recovery of the poor rate shall apply respectively in relation to the making, assessment, levying, collection and recovery of the municipal rate by an urban authority.

(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 3 of the Enforcement of Court Orders Act, 1926 (No. 18 of 1926), execution orders within the meaning of that Act in proceedings in the District Court for the recovery of moneys due in respect of the municipal rate of an urban authority shall, if the Court on the application, of the person by whom the proceedings are brought so directs, be executed by that person.

(4) Subsection (7) of section 51 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, shall not apply or have effect in relation to any debt, claim or demand which is directly or indirectly payable by an urban authority out of the municipal rate.

(5) Every demand note for the municipal rate of an urban authority shall show separately on the front or the back thereof the portion of the rate in the pound of the said rate which is raised for any purpose in respect of which the Minister or the urban authority directs that it shall be so shown separately.

(6) Where, by virtue of section 3 of the Finance Act, 1944 (No. 18 of 1944), the expression “the municipal rate” occurs in any enactment specified in the Schedule to that Act, that expression shall be construed as including the rate leviable under this section.

19. —(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, all rates which, immediately before the commencement of this section, were leviable in an urban area shall cease to be leviable, but such cesser shall not prevent, prejudice or affect the collection or recovery of any portion of any such rate which immediately before such commencement remained due and unpaid and any such portion shall for the purposes of such collection or recovery be deemed to be arrears of the municipal rate.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall not extend or apply to charges (commonly called contract water rates) made for the supply of water to particular hereditaments for purposes other than domestic purposes or for the supply of water under special contract to any person not otherwise entitled to such supply.

(3) Where immediately before the commencement of this section there were two or more persons acting as rate collectors in an urban area, each of such persons shall be deemed to have been duly appointed immediately upon the commencement of this section to be a collector of the municipal rate in the urban area for such district as may be assigned to him upon the same terms of office (including terms relating to pension and superannuation rights) as he held office immediately before such commencement and, for the purposes of any enactment relating to superannuation or compensation for loss of office, this Act shall be deemed not to have operated to abolish his office or to alter his position materially to his detriment.

(4) Where immediately before the commencement of this section there was one person only acting as rate collector in an urban area, such person shall be deemed to have been duly appointed immediately upon the commencement of this section to be the collector of the municipal rate in the urban area upon the same terms of office (including terms relating to pension and superannuation rights) as he held office immediately before such commencement and, for the purposes of any enactment relating to superannuation or compensation for loss of office, this Act shall be deemed not to have operated to abolish his office or to alter his position materially to his detriment.

20. —(1) Where a hereditament situated in an urban area is on the date of the commencement of this section, held (whether together with or without other premises) under a lease which binds the lessor to pay or allow a deduction or set off against or otherwise to relieve the lessee from any rates (other than poor rate) payable in respect of the hereditament, all rent payable under the lease in respect of a period commencing on or after the date of the commencement of this section shall be reduced—

(a) in the case of an annual rent, by an amount equal to the amount of the rates (other than poor rate) made by the urban authority in respect of the hereditament for the local financial year expiring at the commencement of this section to which the relief afforded to the lessee by the lease lawfully extended, and

(b) in the case of any rent other than an annual rent, by an amount which bears to the rates (other than poor rate) made by the urban authority in respect of the hereditament for the said local financial year to which the relief afforded to the lessee by the lease lawfully extended the same proportion as the period by reference to which such rent is calculated bears to one year.

(2) In this section, the word “lease” includes any contract of tenancy, whether in writing or verbal, whereby the relation of landlord and tenant is created, and the words “lessor” and “lessee” respectively include the landlord of and the tenant under such tenancy.

21. —(1) For the purpose of the assessment and levying of the municipal rate on a hereditament situated in an urban area which is a borough and included in a class mentioned in the second column of Part I of the Second Schedule to this Act, the valuation of the hereditament shall be deemed to be reduced to the proportion, specified in the first column of that Part of that Schedule in respect of such class, of the actual valuation under the Valuation Acts of the hereditament.

(2) For the purposes of the assessment and levying of the municipal rate on a hereditament situated in an urban area which is not a borough and included in a class mentioned in the second column of Part II of the Second Schedule to this Act, the valuation of the hereditament shall be deemed to be reduced to the proportion, specified in the first column of that Part of that Schedule in respect of such class, of the actual valuation under the Valuation Acts of the hereditament.

(3) Part II of the Second Schedule to this Act shall, in relation to a hereditament which is agricultural land within the meaning of the Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Act, 1939 (No. 23 of 1939), have effect as respects the first six local financial years during which this section is in force subject to the following modifications :—

(a) in the case of the first of those years, the proportion of the valuation specified in the first column of the said Part shall be taken to be six-twentieths,

(b) in the case of the second of those years, such proportion shall be taken to be seven-twentieths,

(c) in the case of the third of those years, such proportion shall be taken to be eight-twentieths,

(d) in the case of the fourth of those years, such proportion shall be taken to be nine-twentieths,

(e) in the case of the fifth of those years, such proportion shall be taken to be ten-twentieths,

(f) in the case of the sixth of those years, such proportion shall be taken to be eleven-twentieths.

(4) Nothing in this section shall apply to or operate to reduce the annual value with reference to which the tax in respect of any hereditament under Schedules A and B of the Income Tax Act, 1918, is to be ascertained.

22. —(1) A loan as respects which an urban authority is the borrower and which, immediately before the commencement of this section, stood charged upon a rate ceasing under section 19 of this Act to be leviable shall stand charged upon the municipal rate.

(2) A loan as respects which an urban authority is the borrower, and which, immediately before the commencement of this section, stood charged upon a fund maintained out of the produce of a rate ceasing under section 19 of this Act to be leviable shall stand charged upon the municipal fund.

23. —(1) Where a hereditament which is situated in an urban area and which is not a small dwelling within the meaning of the Local Government (Rates on Small Dwellings) Act, 1928 (No. 4 of 1928), is unoccupied at the making of the municipal rate, such rate shall be made upon the person (in this section referred to as the owner) who is for the time being entitled to occupy the hereditament and, upon such rate being paid by the owner, he shall be entitled to claim and receive from the urban authority of the urban area a refund of one-twelfth of such rate in respect of every completed month (reckoned from any day of one month to the corresponding day of the next month) during which the hereditament is unoccupied either for the purpose of the execution of additions, alterations or repairs thereto or because the owner is bona fide unable to obtain a suitable tenant therefor, in the case of a hereditament to which the Rent Restrictions Act, 1946 (No. 4 of 1946) for the time being applies, at the maximum rent for the time being permitted under that Act, or, in the case of any other hereditament, at a reasonable rent.

(2) Where—

(a) a rate is made by virtue of this section on the owner of an unoccupied hereditament, and

(b) the hereditament is subsequently let by or on behalf of the owner, and

(c) the rate or any part thereof is in arrear and unpaid,

the rate collector by whom the rate is collectable may, in addition to and without prejudice to any other remedy for the recovery of the amount of the rate so in arrear and unpaid, serve either personally or by post on the occupier of the hereditament a notice stating the said amount so in arrear and unpaid and requiring the occupier to pay to the rate collector or his successor in office all rent then due or thereafter to become due by him in respect of the hereditament until the said amount is by such payment or otherwise discharged, and thereupon the rate collector or his successor in office shall have the exclusive right to recover, receive and give a good discharge for all rent required by the notice to be paid to him.

(3) A rate made by virtue of this section on the owner of an unoccupied hereditament shall not be invalidated by any error or defect in the statement of the name of the owner or by the use of the description “the owner” without any name or addition, and the rate shall be recoverable from the owner notwithstanding any such error or defect or the use of any such description.

24. — Sections 15 to 23 of this Act shall not apply in relation to the borough of Dún Laoghaire or the corporation of that borough.

25. —(1) Where, in the local financial year ending immediately before the commencement of this section, any part of the agricultural grant was payable by the council of a county to the council of an urban district, such council of a county shall, in each subsequent local financial year, pay an amount equal to such part to such council of an urban district out of the agricultural grant and such amount shall thereupon be paid into the municipal fund.

(2) Any part of the agricultural grant which becomes payable after the commencement of this section to an urban authority under subsection (1) of section 5 of the Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Act, 1939 (No. 23 of 1939) shall be paid into the municipal fund.

(3) In this section, the expression “the agricultural grant” has the same meaning as it has in the Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Act, 1939 (No. 23 of 1939).

26. —(1) The moneys required to meet the expenses of the commissioners of a town which is not an urban district shall be supplied to the commissioners by the council of the county in which the town is situate on an annual estimate and demand in the prescribed form.

(2) A sum which immediately before the commencement of this section remained due and unpaid to the commissioners of a town which is not an urban district for rates shall become a sum due and unpaid to the council of the county in which the town is situate and shall be recoverable by or on behalf of such council, whether by action, distress or otherwise, in like manner as if it were due and unpaid to such council for rates made by them to meet an annual demand of such commissioners made in pursuance of subsection (1) of this section, and such sum shall, on being so recovered, be applied in like manner as if it had been recovered in respect of rates made as aforesaid.

(3) A person who—

(a) immediately before the commencement of this section held the office of collector of rates under the commissioners of a town, and

(b) had held that office for not less than ten years, and

(c) is not entitled under any enactment other than this subsection to compensation for the abolition of that office,

shall be paid by such commissioners on account of such abolition a gratuity equal to either—

(i) one-fifteenth of his yearly salary and emoluments, within the meaning of Part IV of the Local Government Act, 1925 (No. 5 of 1925), in respect of that office for each complete year of his service, or

(ii) such yearly salary and emoluments,

whichever is the less.

(4) A person who immediately before the commencement of this section—

(a) held the office of collector of rates under the commissioners of a town, and

(b) also held another office or offices under the said commissioners or any other local authority, and

(c) devoted the whole of his time to the duties of all the said offices, and

(d) was a pensionable officer for the purposes of Part IV of the Local Government Act, 1925 (No. 5 of 1925),

shall be deemed for the purposes of the said Part IV, for so long as he shall continue to hold such other office or other offices, to devote the whole of his time to the duties of such other office or other offices (as the case may be).

27. —(1) The council of a county may, with the consent of the Minister, borrow on the security of the county rate for the purpose of lending, to the commissioners of a town which is not an urban district and is situated in the county, any sums required by the commissioners for the purpose of the exercise or performance of any of their powers, functions or duties.

(2) If a sum, which consists either of portion of a loan advanced pursuant to this section by the council of a county to the commissioners of a town or of interest on any such loan, is not included by the commissioners in the appropriate demand under subsection (1) of section 26 of this Act, such sum shall be deemed to have been included in the demand and subsection (4) of section 10 of this Act shall have effect accordingly.

(3) A loan as respects which the commissioners of a town which is not an urban district are the borrower and which, immediately before the commencement of this section, stood charged upon a rate ceasing, by virtue of the repeal by this Act of sections 60 to 65 of the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act, 1854, to be leviable shall stand charged upon the county rate of the county in which the town is situated.

28. —(1) Where a hereditament situated in a town which is not an urban district is, on the date of the commencement of this section, held (whether together with or without other premises) under a lease which binds the lessor to pay or allow a deduction or set off against or otherwise to relieve the lessee from any rates made by the commissioners of the town payable in respect of the hereditament, all rent payable under the lease in respect of a period commencing on or after the date of the commencement of this section shall be reduced—

(a) in the case of an annual rent, by an amount equal to the amount of the rates made by the commissioners of the town in respect of the hereditament for the local financial year expiring at the commencement of this section to which the relief afforded to the lessee by the lease lawfully extended, and

(b) in the case of any rent other than an annual rent, by an amount which bears to the rates made by the commissioners of the town in respect of the hereditament for the said local financial year to which the relief afforded to the lessee by the lease lawfully extended the same proportion as the period by reference to which such rent is calculated bears to one year.

(2) In this section, the word “lease” includes any contract of tenancy, whether in writing or verbal, whereby the relation of landlord and tenant is created, and the words “lessor” and “lessee” respectively include the landlord of and the tenant under such tenancy.

29. —A rating authority shall, either immediately prior to or at the beginning of each local financial year, make one rate for the whole local financial year and shall collect such rate in equal moieties, one such moiety for each half year of such local financial year.

30. —(1) If, at any time after the rate in the pound of the rate for a local financial year has been determined by a rating authority, it appears to the Minister that such rate at such rate in the pound is likely to be insufficient to meet the part defrayable out of rates of the expenses to be incurred by the rating authority in that financial year in—

(a) maintaining at a reasonable standard the public services for the maintenance of which the rating authority is responsible, and

(b) paying to any other body any sums which the rating authority are bound to supply to that body,

the Minister, after causing a local inquiry to be held by one of his inspectors into the sufficiency of such rate, may require the rating authority either to revoke such determination and determine a new rate in the pound for such rate or (if by reason of any steps already taken for the making, levying or collecting of such rate, such a course is more convenient) determine a rate in the pound of a supplementary rate for that local financial year.

(2) Within fourteen days after the date of the receipt by the secretary or clerk of a rating authority of notification that a requirement has been made under subsection (1) of this section, the rating authority shall comply with such requirement.

(3) Where a rating authority determine pursuant to a requirement under subsection (1) of this section a rate in the pound of a supplementary rate, it shall be the duty of the rating authority to make, levy, collect and recover such supplementary rate.

(4) Where a rating authority in relation to whom a requirement is made under subsection (1) of this section determine and make pursuant to the direction either—

(a) a new rate in the pound of a rate, or

(b) a rate in the pound of a supplementary rate,

which in the opinion of the Minister is insufficient, the Minister may by order remove from office the members of the rating authority.

(5) For the purposes of Part IV of the Act of 1941, an order under subsection (4) of this section shall be deemed to be an order under section 44 of that Act as amended by this Act and the removal from office of the members of the rating authority concerned shall be deemed to be a removal from office under that section.

(6) Where a person or persons has or have been appointed under Part IV of the Act of 1941 to be a commissioner or commissioners for a rating authority whose members have been removed from office, such person or persons may revoke any determination by the rating authority of a rate in the pound of a rate for the current or the next local financial year as had been made before his or their appointment (whether it is the first determination of a rate in the pound, the determination of the rate in the pound of a new rate or the determination of the rate in the pound of a supplementary rate) and may determine the rate in the pound of such rate as if no earlier determination had been made or may determine a rate in the pound of a supplementary rate for such local financial year and make, levy, collect and recover such supplementary rate.

(7) The law relating to the determination by a rating authority of the rate in the pound of a rate shall apply, subject to any necessary modifications, to the determination pursuant to this section of the rate in the pound of any rate.

(8) The law relating to making, levying, collecting and recovering, by a rating authority of rates shall apply, subject to any necessary modifications, to the making, levying, collecting and recovering pursuant to this section of any rates.

(9) If any difficulty arises in relation to the determination pursuant to this section of the rate in the pound of any rate or to the making, levying, collecting or recovering pursuant to this section of any rate, the Minister may by order take all such steps and do all such things as appear to him to be necessary for the purpose of removing such difficulty.

31. —A rate made by the Commissioners of a town under the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act, 1854, for the local financial year beginning on the 1st day of April, 1946, shall not be invalidated by reason of a failure to comply with section 172 of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, which is repealed by this Act.

32. —The poor rate made by the council of a county for the local financial year beginning on the 1st day of April, 1946, shall not be invalidated by reason of the fact that, subsequent to the estimates meeting, held under section 24 of the County Management Act, 1940 (No. 12 of 1940), at which the said council determined a rate in the pound to be levied for the purposes of the construction and maintenance of roads, the said council, in anticipation of an increase in the receipts by way of grant from the Road Fund, reduced the said rate in the pound and made the poor rate for the said year accordingly.

33. —(1) The Minister may from time to time by order vary the existing division of a rated area into collection districts or, in the case of a rated area forming one collection district, divide such area into two or more collection districts and, in the former case, may, in particular, by the order increase or reduce the number of collection districts in the rated area.

(2) The Minister may by an order under this section make provision for such (if any) transfers of rate collectors of the rating authority concerned as in his opinion is rendered necessary or expedient in consequence of the order.

(3) In this section—

the expression “rated area” means the area in which a rating authority is empowered to levy rates,

the expression “collection district” means the area for which a rate collector of a rating authority is appointed.

34. —(1) A hereditament which but for this section would, as regards any local financial year, be a small dwelling within the meaning of the Act of 1928 shall not, as regards that local financial year, be a small dwelling within the meaning of the Act of 1928 if on the 1st day of April in that local financial year the owner of such hereditament within the meaning of the said Act is a State authority.

(2) Where a gale of rent paid, before the passing of this Act, to a State authority by the occupier of a hereditament was, in purported compliance with section 6 of the Act of 1928, increased by a sum (in this subsection referred to as the increase) purporting to represent part of a rate purporting to have been made in respect of the said hereditament under section 4 of the Act of 1928, for the service of a particular local financial year, then, unless the increase was returned by that State authority to such occupier before the passing of this Act, the following provisions shall have effect—

(a) that State authority shall pay the increase to the rating authority by whom the said rate was made,

(b) the increase when so paid to that rating authority shall be deemed to have been paid by that State authority at the request of such occupier in respect of a rate lawfully made on such occupier in respect of the said hereditament for the service of the said local financial year.

(3) In this section—

the expression “the Act of 1928” means the Local Government (Rates on Small Dwellings) Act, 1928 (No. 4 of 1928);

the expression “State authority” means any authority being—

(a) a Minister of State, or

(b) the Revenue Commissioners, or

(c) the Irish Land Commission, or

(d) the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland.