Gas Act 1976

Board's capital commitments.

21

F61[21.— (1) The Board shall not, without the consent of the majority-shareholding Minister given (where the majority-shareholding Minister is not the Minister for Finance, with the approval of the Minister for Finance) having consulted with the Minister, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and any other Minister of the Government who, in the opinion of the majority-shareholding Minister having regard to the functions of that other Minister, ought to be consulted enter into a capital commitment the amount of which exceeds an amount specified for the time being for the purpose of this section and relating to the commitment.

(2) The majority-shareholding Minister may from time to time (with, where the majority-shareholding Minister is not the Minister for Finance, the approval of the Minister for Finance) having consulted with the Minister, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and any other Minister of the Government who, in the opinion of the majority-shareholding Minister having regard to the functions of that other Minister, ought to be consulted, specify amounts for the purposes of this section and such an amount may be so specified in relation to capital commitments generally or in relation to capital commitments of a particular class or description.

(3) Notwithstanding the generality of subsection (1) and for the avoidance of doubt, the Board shall not construct a pipeline without the prior consent of the majority-shareholding Minister given (where the majority-shareholding Minister is not the Minister for Finance, with the approval of the Minister for Finance) having consulted with the Minister, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and any other Minister of the Government who, in the opinion of the majority-shareholding Minister having regard to the functions of that other Minister, ought to be consulted.

(4) The majority-shareholding Minister may, by notice in writing delivered to the Board, declare that subsection (3) shall not apply to the construction of pipelines or specified pipelines or classes of pipelines in a specified area and, whenever a notice under this subsection is in force, subsection (3) shall not apply in relation to the construction of pipelines, or those pipelines or classes of pipelines specified in the notice, in the area specified in the notice.

(5) In determining whether or not to give consent for the construction of a pipeline the majority-shareholding Minister shall have regard to—

(a) requirements of Directive 2009/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 20095,

(b) whether the construction of the pipeline has been approved by the Commission, and

(c) the energy policy objectives which the construction of the proposed pipeline is intended to achieve.

(6) Where the majority-shareholding Minister proposes to refuse his or her consent under this section for the construction of a pipeline, he or she shall consult the Minister, the Commission and the Board and where the majority-shareholding Minister refuses consent, he or she shall provide reasons for the refusal.]

Annotations:

Amendments:

F61

Substituted (23.11.2015) by Gas Regulation Act 2013 (39/2013), s. 39, S.I. No. 520 of 2015.

Editorial Notes:

E60

Previous affecting provision: subss. (1), (2) applied with modifications (29.03.2013) by Water Services Act 2013 (6/2013), s. 16, S.I. No. 108 of 2013; affecting provision substituted (23.11.2015) by Gas Regulation Act 2013 (39/2013), s. 46, S.I. No. 520 of 2015.

E61

Previous affecting provision: functions transferred and references to “Department of Finance” and “Minister for Finance”construed (29.07.2011) by Finance (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 2011 (S.I. No. 418 of 2011), arts. 2, 3, 5 and sch. 1 part 2, in effect as per art. 1(2), subject to transitional provisions in arts. 6-9; section substituted (23.11.2015) as per F-note above.

E62

Previous affecting provision: references to the "Board" in subs. (3) construed as including the ITO (1.12.2011) by European Communities (Internal Market in Natural Gas and Electricity) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No. 630 of 2011), reg. 38(2)(a)(v), in effect as per regs. 1(2) and 12; revoked (19.01.2015) by European Communities (Internal Market in Natural Gas and Electricity) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (S.I. No. 16 of 2015), reg. 29(1)(d). Note: notice in accordance with European Communities (Internal Market in Natural Gas and Electricity) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No. 630 of 2011), reg. 12 appears not to have been published.

E63

Previous affecting provisions: subss. (3), (4) inserted (10.04.2002) by Gas (Interim) (Regulation) Act 2002 (10/2002), s. 23(1)(c), commenced on enactment; section substituted (23.11.2015) as per F-note above.