101D.—(1) In this section—

"local authority" means—

(a) the council of a county,

(b) the corporation of a county or other borough, or

(c) the council of an urban district

standing prescribed for the time being for the purposes of this section;

"roadworks" means repairs, maintenance, alterations, improvements or installations or any other works to, above or under, a public road;

"emergency roadworks" means roadworks the carrying out of which is immediately required in order to prevent, or reduce the risk of, loss, injury or damage to persons or property.

(2) (a) Notwithstanding any other enactment, a local authority may give a direction in writing to any person in relation to the carrying out of roadworks in its functional area.

(b) A local authority may, by a direction in writing given to the person to whom a direction was given under this subsection, revoke or amend the latter direction.

(c) A direction given to a person under this subsection may apply to all roadworks undertaken by the person or to specified roadworks undertaken by him.

(3) A direction under subsection (2) of this section may specify:

(a) the periods during which and the times at which roadworks shall or shall not be carried out,

(b) the period within which roadworks shall be completed,

(c) the manner in which roadworks shall or shall not be carried out,

(d) requirements and standards in relation to the temporary or permanent reinstatement of a public road following the carrying out of roadworks.

(e) requirements in relation to the giving of security for satisfactory reinstatement of a public road following the carrying out of roadworks,

(f) requirements in relation to the control of traffic in the vicinity of roadworks.

(4) When giving a direction under this section, a local authority shall have regard to:

(a) the need to co-ordinate, in such manner as to minimise any disruption of traffic by the roadworks concerned, the periods during which and the times at which the roadworks concerned and other roadworks (whether or not they are in the functional area of the local authority) are carried out,

(b) the necessity to minimise the disruption to traffic caused by the roadworks concerned and other roadworks,

(c) the urgency of the need to carry out the roadworks, and

(d) any cost likely to be incurred as a result of the direction.

(5) (a) Subsection (2) of this section does not apply to the carrying out of roadworks (being roadworks the carrying out of which would, but for this subsection, be in contravention of a direction or regulations under this section) at any time when the person carrying them out reasonably believes that the roadworks are emergency roadworks,

(b) Paragraph (a) of this subsection shall not be construed as preventing a local authority from giving a direction under subsection (2) of this section where it is satisfied that the carrying out of the roadworks concerned is not, or is no longer, immediately required in orderto prevent or reduce the risk of loss, injury or damage to persons or property.

(6) (a) The Minister may make regulations for the purpose of giving effect to this section and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, such regulations may contain provisions:

(i) specifying local authorities and the areas in which they may perform their functions under this section,

(ii) requiring advance notice of proposed roadworks, other than emergency roadworks, to be given to the local authority concerned,

(iii) requiring notice of emergency roadworks to be given to the local authority concerned as soon as may be after their commencement,

(iv) requiring specified information to be given to the local authority concerned regarding—

(I) proposed roadworks, or

(II) emergency roadworks,

(v) specifying time limits for the giving of directions by local authorities,

(vi) specifying requirements and standards for the temporary or permanent reinstatement of roadworks,

(vii) specifying requirements in relation to traffic control in the vicinity of roadworks.

(b) Different regulations may be made under this subsection:

(i) in respect of different local authorities,

(ii) in respect of different areas of the functional area of a local authority,

(iii) in respect of different types of roadworks,

(iv) for different circumstances.

(7) (a) A person who contravenes a direction or regulation under this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable:

(i) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both the fine and the imprisonment, or

(ii) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £50,000 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both the fine and the imprisonment.

(b) Where an offence under this subsection has been committed by a body corporate and is found to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, a person, being a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that person as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of the offence and be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(c) Section 13 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1967, shall apply in relation to an offence to which paragraph (a) of this subsection relates as if, in lieu of the penalties provided for in subsection (3) of the said section, there were specified therein the penalties provided for in the said paragraph (a) and the reference in subsection (2) (a) of the said section 13 to the penalties provided for in the said subsection (3) shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

(8) (a) Local authorities or the Minister shall not be liable for any loss, injury or damage, or any expenditure incurred by another person by reason of the performance or non-performance of their functions under this section.

(b) Subsection (2) of this section does not apply to the carrying out of roadworks by a local authority.

(9) In performing its functions a local authority shall—

(a) have regard to the need to co-ordinate works carried out by it to, above or under, a public road with the carrying out of roadworks by other persons,

(b) have regard to the need to minimise traffic disruption,

(c) comply with regulations under subsection (6) which are stated therein to apply to local authorities.

(10) Any bye-laws or directions under section 40 of the Dublin Transport Authority Act, 1986, that are in force immediately before the commencement of the Dublin Transport Authority (Dissolution) Act, 1987, shall continue in force after such commencement, and may be amended or revoked, as if, in the case of bye-laws, they were regulations under this section and, in the case of directions, had been made under this section.]