PART III.

Management of the Shannon Fisheries.

8. —In addition, but subject and without prejudice to, the primary function of maintaining, working, and developing the Shannon hydro-electric works under and in pursuance of the Act of 1927 as amended or extended by subsequent legislation, the Board shall have and perform the duty of managing, conducting, and preserving the Shannon fisheries under and in accordance with this Act.

9. —(1) It shall be lawful for the Board to do all such things, carry out all such transactions, and fulfil all such functions as shall be necessary or proper for or incidental or ancillary to the due performance of the duties in relation to the Shannon fisheries imposed on the Board by this Part of this Act, and in particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing powers, it shall be lawful for the Board to do all or any of the following things, that is to say:—

(a) acquire, either permanently or temporarily and either compulsorily or by agreement, any fishery or fishing right in or over the waters of the River Shannon or any part thereof, and any land, way-leave or other right ancillary to or necessary for the enjoyment of any such fishery or fishing right so acquired;

(b) acquire, either permanently or temporarily and either compulsorily or by agreement, land (including land covered by water) and also easements, profits-a-prendre, and other rights over or in relation to land or water,

(c) acquire, either permanently or temporarily and either compulsorily or by agreement, any weir, dam, or bridge in or across the waters of the Shannon fisheries;

(d) terminate, restrict, or otherwise interfere with, either permanently or temporarily and either compulsorily or by agreement, any easement, way-leave, water-right, fishing right, or other right over or in respect of any land or water;

(e) divert, close, remove, or otherwise interfere with, either permanently or temporarily and either compulsorily or by agreement, any private road or way, or any canal or other artificial water-way, or water-course;

(f) subject to the provisions of this section, demise by lease or let by way of licence the whole or any part of the Shannon fisheries to such persons, for such period, at such rent, and on such terms and conditions as the Board shall, subject as aforesaid, think proper.

(2) Nothing in this section shall operate to authorise the Board—

(a) to do anything compulsorily without paying compensation therefor, or

(b) to acquire or interfere with any public road or way or any bridge carrying a public road or way, or

(c) to acquire or interfere with (otherwise than by agreement) any property belonging to a railway company, or

(d) to acquire any property belonging to the State compulsorily or otherwise than in accordance with the law for the time being regulating or restricting the disposition of such property, or

(e) to construct or erect any work or structure on tidal lands below the line of high water of ordinary or medium tides without the consent of the Minister or otherwise than in accordance with the terms and conditions of such consent, or

(f) to make any demise by lease or any letting by way of licence of the whole or any part of the Shannon fisheries for any period exceeding one year or with or subject to any covenant or condition for renewal without the approval of the Minister and the Minister for Finance, nor to make any such demise or letting of a fishery to which Article Eleven of the Constitution applies for any period exceeding ninety-nine years or with a provision for renewal.

(3) No demise by lease nor letting by way of licence of the whole or any part of the Shannon fisheries nor any agreement for any such demise or letting shall be made by the Board under this section unless the Board shall, at least twenty-one days before making such demise, letting, or agreement, have published at least once in each of two newspapers circulating in the neighbourhood of the fishery or fisheries which is or are the subject matter of such demise, letting, or agreement, a notice stating the intention or desire of the Board to demise or let such fishery or fisheries and inviting offers to take such demise or letting.

10. —The income of the Board derived from the performance of the duties in relation to the Shannon fisheries imposed on the Board by this Part of this Act, after discharging all expenses incurred by the Board in the performance of the said duties and properly chargeable to income, shall be applied to the following purposes in the following order, that is to say:—

(a) payment of all interest payable in the current year or owing in respect of any previous year to the Minister for Finance on advances made for the purposes of this Part of this Act by the said Minister to the Board under this Act;

(b) setting aside such sums as the Board, with the approval of the Minister, shall think proper for reserve fund, extensions, and other like purposes relating to the performance of the said duties;

(c) payment of all moneys payable in the current year or owing in respect of any previous year to the Minister for Finance on account of the repayment of advances made by the said Minister to the Board under this Act;

(d) appropriation for any other purpose which the Board shall think proper.

11. —Notwithstanding anything contained in Part III of the Fisheries Act, 1925 (No. 32 of 1925), it shall be lawful for the Board to sell, expose for sale, and keep for sale salmon and trout without being licensed in that behalf under that Act.

12. —(1) Section 6 of the Fisheries (Ireland) Act, 1848, as amended by section 7 of the Fisheries Act, 1925 (No. 32 of 1925), shall not apply in respect of any fishery for the time being included in the Shannon fisheries and in lieu thereof it is hereby enacted that—

(a) if and so long as the Board is the owner, lessee or occupier of a fishery which was on the 1st day of January, 1931, a several or exclusive fishery within the meaning of the said section 6 and was on that day valued under the Valuation Acts at not less than fifty pounds the Board shall be entitled to nominate one person to be an ex-officio member in respect of such fishery of the board of conservators of the district in which such fishery is situate, and

(b) if and so long as the Board is the owner, lessee, or occupier of a number of fisheries situate in the same fishery district which were on the 1st day of January, 1931, several or exclusive fisheries within the meaning of the said section 6, and were on that date owned, held, or occupied by the same person, and were on the said date valued under the Valuation Acts at valuations amounting in the aggregate to not less than fifty pounds, the Board shall be entitled to nominate one person to be an ex-officio member in respect of such fisheries of the board of conservators of the district in which such fisheries are situate.

(2) Where the Board is entitled under the foregoing sub-section of this section to nominate two or more ex-officio members of a board of conservators, the Board may, in lieu of nominating such two or more members, nominate one person only to be an ex-officio member of such board of conservators, and in such cases such one person shall have and may exercise at meetings of such board of conservators a number of votes equal to the number of ex-officio members of such board of conservators which the Board is for the time being entitled to nominate under the said foregoing sub-section.

(3) A person nominated by the Board under this section to be an ex-officio member of a board of conservators shall, subject and without prejudice to the next foregoing sub-section of this section, have and may exercise as such member all the rights and privileges which are conferred by section 6 of the Fisheries (Ireland) Act, 1848, on a person who is an ex-officio member of a board of conservators under that section.