Gas Act 1976

Entry on land by Board.

26

26. (1) Any officer of the Board or any other person appointed in writing by the Board to be an authorised officer for the purposes of this section (which person is subsequently in this section referred to as an “authorised person”) may at any reasonable time enter on any land for any one or more of the following purposes, namely;

(a) for inspecting and surveying the land and making thereon any inquiry, investigation or examination for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not the land, or a right over the land, is suitable for acquisition by the Board F80[under this Act],

(b) for carrying out thereon any investigation or examination preliminary or incidental to the acquisition by the Board of the land or any right F80[over the land,]

F81[(c) if the purpose, or one of the purposes, for which any such land or right is being so acquired or is being considered for such acquisition, is in connection with the construction or operation of a pipeline, for carrying out thereon any investigation or examination preliminary or incidental to the making of an application for consent under F82[section 39A(1) of this Act] in relation to that construction or operation, and

(d) in case the land is in the vicinity of land which, or a right over which, is being so acquired or is being considered for such acquisition and the doing of any of the things referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of this subsection in respect of that land or right cannot be accomplished without entering on the first-mentioned and in this paragraph and, as the case may be, doing thereon any thing necessary to ensure a thing as aforesaid is accomplished, for those purposes.]

F83[(1A) Notwithstanding the generality of subsection (1), an authorised person may only enter land under this section for the purposes mentioned in paragraphs (c) and (d) of that subsection where

(a) in the case of a pipeline other than an upstream pipeline, the Board has notified the Commission in writing of its intention to make an application for the Commission's consent under section 39A(1) in relation to the construction of a pipeline and in respect of which notification the Commission provides a certificate to the Board, after having made such inquiries, if any, as the Commission thinks appropriate, stating that the notification demonstrates a bona fide intention on the part of the Board to make such an application, or

(b) in the case of an upstream pipeline, the Board has notified the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources in writing of its intention to make an application for that Minister's consent under section 40(1) in relation to the construction of a pipeline and in respect of which notification, that Minister provides a certificate to the Board, after having made such inquiries, if any, as that Minister thinks appropriate, stating that the notification demonstrates a bona fide intention on the part of the Board to make such an application.]

(2) An authorised person entering on land under this section may do thereon all things ancillary to or reasonably necessary for the purpose for which the entry is made, and without prejudice to the foregoing he may in particular do, or cause to be done, any of the following, namely, line sight, drill, bore, probe or excavate, or carry out soil tests and, if necessary, remove soil.

(3) Before an authorised person enters under subsection (1) of this section on any land, he shall either obtain the consent, in the case of occupied land, of the occupier, or, in the case of unoccupied land, of the owner, or shall give to the owner or occupier, as the case may be, not less than fourteen days' notice in writing of his intention to make the entry.

(4) A person to whom a notice of intention to enter on land has been given under this section by an authorised person may, not later than fourteen days after the giving of such notice, apply, on notice to such authorised person, to the Justice of the District Court having jurisdiction in the district court district in which the land is situate for an order prohibiting the entry, and, upon the hearing of the application, the Justice may, if he so thinks proper, either wholly prohibit the entry or specify conditions to be observed by the authorised person making the entry.

(5) Where a Justice of the District Court prohibits under this section a proposed entry on land, it shall not be lawful for any person to enter under subsection (1) of this section on the land, and where a Justice of the District Court specifies under this section conditions to be observed by persons entering on land, every person who enters land under the said subsection (1) shall observe the conditions so specified.

Annotations

Amendments:

F80

Substituted (10.07.2000) by Gas (Amendment) Act 2000 (26/2000), s. 20(4)(a), (b), commenced on enactment.

F81

Inserted (10.07.2000) by Gas (Amendment) Act 2000 (26/2000), s. 20(4)(c), commenced on enactment.

F82

Substituted (10.04.2002) by Gas (Interim) (Regulation) Act 2002 (10/2002), s. 23(d)(i), commenced on enactment.

F83

Inserted (10.04.2002) by Gas (Interim) (Regulation) Act 2002 (10/2002), s. 23(d)(ii), commenced on enactment.

Modifications (not altering text):

C20

Application of section, other than subs. (1A), extended with modifications (10.07.2000) by Gas (Amendment) Act 2000 (26/2000), s. 20(1)-(3), commenced on enactment; as amended (10.04.2002) by Gas (Interim) (Regulation) Act 2002 (10/2002), s. 23(6)(b)(i)-(iii), commenced on enactment.

Conferral of powers of compulsory acquisition, etc. under Principal Act on certain persons.

20.— (1) In this section, “relevant person” means—

[(a) save to the extent that this section has application to section 26 of the Principal Act, a person—

(i) in respect of whom the Minister has, prior to the appointed day (within the meaning of section 2 of the Gas (Interim) (Regulation) Act, 2002), imposed a requirement under section 40(2) of the Principal Act,

(ii) who, prior to the aforementioned day, has obtained the consent of the Minister under section 40(1) of the Principal Act,

(iii) who, from the aforementioned day, has obtained the consent of the Commission under section 39A(1) of the Principal Act, or

(iv) who, from the aforementioned day, has obtained the consent of the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources under section 40(1) of the Principal Act,

in relation to the construction, or construction and operation of a pipeline, as the case may be,]

[(b) to the extent that this section has application to the said section 26, a person—

(i) who, prior to the aforementioned day, has notified the Minister in writing of his or her intention to give a notice or make an application for the Minister's consent under section 40(1) of the Principal Act in relation to the construction of a pipeline and in respect of which notification the Minister provides a certificate to the person, after having made such enquiries, if any, as the Minister thinks appropriate, stating that the notification demonstrates a bona fide intention on the part of that person to give such a notice or make such an application,

(ii) who, from the aforementioned day, has notified the Commission in writing of his or her intention to make an application for the Commission's consent under section 39A(1) of the Principal Act in relation to the construction of a pipeline and in respect of which notification the Commission provides a certificate to the person, after having made such enquiries, if any, as the Commission thinks appropriate, stating that the notification demonstrates a bona fide intention on the part of that person to give such a notice or make such an application, or

(iii) who, from the aforementioned day, has notified the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources in writing of his or her intention to make an application for the consent of the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources under section 40(1) of the Principal Act in relation to the construction of a pipeline and in respect of which notification the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources provides a certificate to the person, after having made such enquiries, if any, as the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources thinks appropriate, stating that the notification demonstrates a bona fide intention on the part of that person to give such a notice or make such an application.]

(2) The powers conferred by the provisions of the Principal Act referred to in subsection (3) shall, in addition to being exercisable by the Board, be exercisable by a relevant person and those provisions [, other than section 26(1A),] shall otherwise apply to such a person as they apply to the Board and, accordingly, on and from the passing of this Act, each reference in those provisions to the Board shall be construed as including a reference to a relevant person.

(3) The provisions of the Principal Act mentioned in subsection (2) are: sections 26, 27 and 31, section 32 (other than subsection (1) or subsection (1A) (inserted by this section)), section 33 and the Second Schedule.

Editorial Notes:

E86

Previous affecting provision: application of section extended (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)(iii), in effect as per regs. 1(2), 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.