PART VII.

Miscellaneous Provisions.

86. —(1) The Minister may by order abolish a county infirmary or a county fever hospital or a public general infirmary for two or more counties or a county and a county borough if he thinks proper so to do after consultation with every (if any) council of a county and every (if any) corporation of a county borough which contributes to the maintenance of such infirmary or hospital and consultation with the committee of management of such infirmary or hospital.

(2) Whenever an infirmary or a fever hospital is abolished by an order made under the foregoing sub-section of this section, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) the Minister shall, by the said order, fix the date on which such abolition shall become operative;

(b) the Minister may, by the said order or any subsequent order, make provision for the closing of such infirmary or hospital, the transfer of the patients therein, and such other matters (not specifically provided for by this section) as shall appear to him to be necessary for carrying such abolition into effect;

(c) all property held for the purposes of such infirmary or hospital by a council of a county or corporation of a county borough and all property held by the committee of management of such infirmary or hospital shall, on the date on which such abolition becomes operative, become and be transferred to and vested in the public assistance authority for the public assistance district in which such infirmary or hospital is situate and shall thenceforth be held by such authority for the purposes of this Act;

(d) all the debts and liabilities of the said committee shall, as on and from the date on which such abolition becomes operative, become and be debts and liabilities of and be defrayed by the said public assistance authority;

(e) every person who, immediately before the date on which such abolition becomes operative, is an officer of the committee of management of such infirmary or hospital and (except in the case of a medical officer) devotes the whole of his time to the service of such committee shall, if his period of service under such committee is, immediately before the said date, not less than ten years, have the same rights to receive an allowance from the said public assistance authority as he would have if he were a pensionable officer of the said public assistance authority and held office under that authority for a period equal to his period of service under the said committee and were removed from such office for a cause other than misconduct or incapacity.

87. —(1) Every board of public assistance shall be a local authority within the meaning and for the purposes of every of the several Acts mentioned in the Third Schedule to this Act.

(2) Section 4 of the Local Government Act, 1931 (No. 19 of 1931), shall have effect in relation to a board of public assistance as if such board were a board of health and public assistance, and for that purpose the said section 4 is hereby amended by the insertion therein of the words “board of public assistance” immediately after the words “board of public health”.

88. —Every board of public assistance shall be a county authority within the meaning and for the purposes of section 63 of the Local Government Act, 1925 (No. 5 of 1925).

89. —(1) The Minister may by order make such adaptations and modifications of any enactment in force at the commencement of this Act and relating to any matter or thing dealt with or affected by this Act as appear to him to be necessary or expedient for carrying this Act into effect or for enabling this Act to have full force and effect.

(2) Subject and without prejudice to any adaptation or modification made by the Minister under the foregoing sub-section of this section, the following provisions shall have effect in relation to every enactment (whether relating or not relating to any matter or thing dealt with by this Act) which is in force at the commencement of this Act, that is to say:—

(a) every mention or reference contained in any such enactment of or to a board of guardians or the guardians of the poor shall be construed and have effect as a mention of or reference to a public assistance authority;

(b) every mention or reference contained in any such enactment of or to a poor law union shall be construed and have effect as a mention of or reference to a public assistance district;

(c) every mention or reference contained in any such enactment of or to a union fund shall be construed and have effect as a mention of or reference to the funds of the appropriate public assistance authority;

(d) every mention or reference contained in any such enactment of or to the workhouse of a union shall be construed and have effect as a mention of or reference to the appropriate district institution;

(e) every mention or reference contained in any such enactment of or to poor relief shall be construed and have effect as a mention of or reference to assistance;

(f) every mention or reference contained in any such enactment of or to union relief shall be construed and have effect as a mention of or reference to general assistance;

(g) every mention or reference contained in any such enactment of or to outdoor relief shall be construed and have effect as a mention of or reference to home assistance.

90. —The Minister may, if and whenever he so thinks proper, make by order such regulations (either in relation to all public assistance authorities or in relation to one or more such authorities) as shall appear to him to be expedient for the guidance and control of such authorities and their officers in the exercise and performance of their powers and duties under this Act and for securing the efficient execution and administration of this Act.

91. —Every order and every regulation made by the Minister under this Act and relating to or having effect in more than one public assistance district shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as conveniently may be after it is made, and if a resolution annulling such order or regulation is passed by either such House within the next twenty-one days on which such House has sat after such order or regulation is so laid before it, such order or regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.