Gas Act 1976
Powers of Board in relation to the construction, maintenance and repair of pipelines.
27. — (1) Subject to F84[section 39A(4) of this Act] and to the following subsections of this section, for the purpose of constructing, maintaining or repairing any pipeline (whether or not the pipeline is the property of the Board) the Board may do all or any of the following, namely—
(a) alter, repair or demolish any building or part thereof,
(b) alter, repair, remove or demolish any fence, hedge, tree or wall,
(c) in case any part of a pipeline is below the surface of land, place on the land markers to indicate the presence of the pipeline beneath the surface of the land,
(d) dig, break or otherwise temporarily close, cross, extend, divert or otherwise interfere with or alter any road, railway, navigable waterway, river, stream or other watercourse, bridge, tunnel, culvert, pipe, drain or other thing,
provided that in relation to a fence, hedge, tree, wall or building which is adjacent to a public road, or the placing by the Board of a marker on or adjacent to such a road, the Board shall only exercise a power under this subsection with the consent of the road authority concerned, and in case there is a dispute as to whether a particular fence, hedge, tree, wall or building is adjacent to a public road, or as to whether a marker will when placed be in or adjacent to such a road, the matter shall be referred by the Board to the Minister to determine and his decision shall be final.
(2) The Board shall not, in relation to a thing owned by F85[…] a road authority, a person specified or described in F84[section 39A(6) of this Act] or the Minister or any other Minister of State, exercise a power mentioned in subsection (1) of this section except with the consent of F85[…] road authority, person or Minister of State concerned and in giving such consent F85[…] authority, person or Minister may attach thereto such reasonable conditions as it or he thinks fit and in addition to the foregoing,
(a) the Board shall not enter on or take possession of any dwellinghouse in exercise of such a power without giving the occupier thereof three months' previous notice in writing of its intention so to do, and
(b) the Board shall not so enter on or take possession of any land, other than a dwellinghouse, without giving the occupier thereof one month's previous notice in writing of its intention so to do.
(3) Subject to section 33 of this Act, the Board or their servants or agents or any contractor employed by the Board or any workman employed by such contractor may, with or without vehicles, machinery or other apparatus or equipment, for the purpose of,
(a) gaining access to the site of a pipeline which is constructed or which is in the course of construction or is to be constructed by the Board,
(b) gaining access to a pipeline (whether or not the pipeline is the property of the Board) in order to inspect, repair, maintain or replace it,
enter on land at any reasonable time, or, in the case of an emergency, at any time.
(4) (a) Subject to paragraphs (b) and (c) of this subsection, to subsection (1) of this section, and to section 33 of this Act, the Board may for any purpose mentioned in subsection (3) of this section construct on or over any land a bridge, road or pathway of any description, and when constructed by the Board, use and maintain such bridge, road or pathway.
(b) Before exercising a power to construct under this subsection the Board shall obtain the consent of the local authority within whose functional area the proposed road or pathway or bridge, or any part thereof, is proposed to be situate.
(c) Where the Board proposes to construct under this subsection a bridge, road or pathway on any land which belongs to the Commission or otherwise belongs to the State or is vested in a Minister of State, before exercising any of their powers in relation to the provision of the bridge, road or pathway, the Board shall first obtain the consent of—
(i) F85[…]
(ii) in case the land otherwise belongs to the State, the Minister for Finance, and
(iii) in case the land is vested in a Minister of State, that Minister,
and the requirements of this paragraph are in addition to and not in substitution for the requirements of paragraph (b) of this subsection.
(5) A 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 such person 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.
F86[(6) In this section “road authority” means a local authority;]
Annotations
Amendments:
F84
Substituted (10.04.2002) by Gas (Interim) (Regulation) Act 2002 (10/2002), s. 23(1)(e)(i), (ii)(l), commenced on enactment.
F85
Deleted (10.04.2002) by Gas (Interim) (Regulation) Act 2002 (10/2002), s. 23(1)(e)(ii)(ll), (iii), commenced on enactment.
F86
Substituted (1.06.2014) by Local Government Reform Act 2014 (1/2014), s. 5(8) and sch. 2 part 6, S.I. No. 214 of 2014.
Modifications (not altering text):
C21
Functions transferred and references to “Department of Finance” and “Minister for Finance” in subs. (4) 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.
2. (1) The administration and business in connection with the performance of any functions transferred by this Order are transferred to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
(2) References to the Department of Finance contained in any Act or instrument made thereunder and relating to the administration and business transferred by paragraph (1) shall, on and after the commencement of this Order, be construed as references to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
3. The functions conferred on the Minister for Finance by or under the provisions of—
(a) the enactments specified in Schedule 1, and
(b) the statutory instruments specified in Schedule 2,
are transferred to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.
...
5. References to the Minister for Finance contained in any Act or instrument under an Act and relating to any functions transferred by this Order shall, from the commencement of this Order, be construed as references to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.
...
Schedule 1
Enactments
...
Part 2
1922 to 2011 Enactments
|
Number and Year |
Short Title |
Provision |
|
(1) |
(2) |
(3) |
|
... |
... |
... |
|
No. 30 of 1976 |
Gas Act 1976 |
Sections 7C, 7E, 7G, 8, 11(1)(a) and (b), 15, 21, 27(4) and 33(2)(a); Second Schedule, paragraphs 5 and 11(f)(i) |
|
... |
... |
... |
C22
Functions transferred and references construed (10.04.2002) by Gas (Interim) (Regulation) Act 2002 (10/2002), s. 7(1), (2), (7) and sch., commenced on enactment, subject to transitional provisions in subss. (3)-(6).
Transfer of functions from Minister to Commission.
7.—(1) The administration and business in connection with the exercise, performance or execution of any of the functions transferred by subsection (2) are transferred on the appointed day to the Commission.
(2) The functions vested in the Minister by or under each of the provisions mentioned in column (3) of the Schedule to this Act of the enactments mentioned in column (2) opposite the mention of that provision are transferred to the Commission on the appointed day.
...
(7) References to the Minister in an Act or an instrument (including a licence granted or consent given thereunder) relating to any functions transferred by this Act to the Commission shall be construed, on and after the appointed day, as references to the Commission.
...
SCHEDULE
Section 7.
Functions under Acts transferred from Minister to Commission
|
Number and Uear |
Short Title |
Section |
|
(1) |
(2) |
(3) |
|
No. 30 of 1976 |
Gas Act 1976 |
Section 27 (insofar as the functions relate to the provision of distribution and transmission pipelines) |
|
... |
... |
... |
...
C23
Certain functions transferred and references to “Department of Public Enterprise” and “Minister for Public Enterprise” construed (27.07.2001) by Petroleum and Offshore Exploration (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 2001 (S.I. No. 389 of 2001), arts. 3, 4 and table, subject to transitional provisions in arts. 5-7.
Note that the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources was most recently renamed as Communications, Climate Action and Environment (23.07.2016) by Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order 2016 (S.I. No. 421 of 2016), in effect as per art. 1(2).
3. The administration and business in connection with the exercise, performance or execution of any functions transferred by Article 4 of this Order are transferred to the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources.
4. (1) The functions vested in the Minister for Public Enterprise (being the title of that Minister by virtue of the Transport, Energy and Communications (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order, 1997 (S.I. No. 299 of 1997)) by virtue of the Energy (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) (No. 2) Order, 1993 (S.I. No. 12 of 1993), by or under the provisions of the Gas Act, 1976 (No. 30 of 1976), as amended, which are set out in column (1) of the Table to this article are hereby transferred to the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources to the extent specified in column (2) of that Table opposite the mention of the section in the said column (1).
(2) References to the Minister for Public Enterprise and relating to any functions transferred by this Article shall, on and after the commencement of this Order, be construed as references to the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources.
|
Column 1 |
Column 2 |
|
Provisions |
Extent of transfer |
|
Sections 4, 6, 8, 27, 31, 32, 40A and Second Schedule |
In so far as they relate to any upstream pipeline network |
|
Section 40 |
In so far as it is not already transferred by the Petroleum and Offshore Exploration (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order, 2000 (S.I. No. 110 of 2000), and to the extent that it relates to any upstream pipeline network. |
C24
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,]
...
(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:
E87
Previous affecting provision: references to the "Board" construed as referring to 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)(iv), 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.
E88
Previous affecting provision: subs. (1) amended (10.07.2000) by Gas (Amendment) Act 2000 (26/2000), s. 21(1), commenced on enactment; subsection further amended (10.04.2002) as per F-note above.