250.—(1) Where a notice or copy of an order is required or authorised by this Act or any order or regulation made thereunder to be served on or given to a person, it shall be addressed to him or her and shall be served on or given to him or her in one of the following ways—

(a) where it is addressed to him or her by name, by delivering it to him or her;

(b) by leaving it at the address at which he or she ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address;

(c) by sending it by post in a prepaid registered letter addressed to him or her at the address at which he or she ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address;

(d) where the address at which he or she ordinarily resides cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry and the notice or copy is so required or authorised to be given or served in respect of any land or premises, by delivering it to some person over the age of 16 years resident or employed on the land or premises or by affixing it in a conspicuous place on or near the land or premises;

F1163[(dd) where the address at which he or she ordinarily resides cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry and the notice or copy is so required or authorised to be given or served in respect of any maritime site, by publishing the notice or copy on 7 consecutive days in a national newspaper;]

(e) in addition to the methods of service provided for in paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d), by delivering it (in the case of an enforcement notice) to some person over the age of 16 years who is employed, or otherwise engaged, in connection with the carrying out of the development to which the notice relates, or by affixing it in a conspicuous place on the land or premises concerned.

(2) Where a notice or copy of an order is required by this Act or any order or regulation made under this Act to be served on or given to the owner or to the occupier of any land or premises and the name of the owner or of the occupier cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry, it may be addressed to “the owner” or “the occupier”, as the case may require, without naming him or her.

(3) For the purposes of this section, a company registered under the Companies Acts, 1963 to 1999, shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its registered office, and every other body corporate and every unincorporated body shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its principal office or place of business.

(4) Where a notice or copy of an order is served on or given to a person by affixing it under subsection (1)(d), a copy of the notice or order shall, within two weeks thereafter, be published in at least one newspaper circulating in the area in which the person is last known to have resided.

(5) A person who, at any time during the period of 12 weeks after a notice is affixed under subsection (1)(d), removes, damages or defaces the notice without lawful authority shall be guilty of an offence.

(6) A person who, without lawful authority, removes, damages or defaces a notice required to be erected at the site of a development under the permission regulations or by the Board under section 142(4), shall be guilty of an offence.

(7) Where the Minister or the Board is satisfied that reasonable grounds exist for dispensing with the serving or giving under this Act or under any order or regulation made under this Act of a notice or copy of an order and that dispensing with the serving or giving of the notice or copy will not cause injury or wrong, the Minister or the Board may dispense with the serving or giving of the notice or copy and every such dispensation shall have effect according to the tenor thereof.

(8) A dispensation under subsection (7) may be given either before or after the time when the notice or copy would, but for the dispensation, be required to be served or given and either before or after the doing of any act to which the notice or copy would, but for the dispensation, be a condition precedent.

(9) In this section, “notice” includes a warning letter.