15. —(1) A company may make bye-laws in relation to a State airport it manages or controls.

(2) The Minister may make bye-laws in relation to an airport which is not a State airport.

(3) Bye-laws under this section may be made for any one or more of the following purposes in relation to an airport, that is to say—

(a) the admission and exclusion from the airport of persons or vehicles,

(b) the formation of queues of persons and vehicles within, or seeking admission to, the airport,

(c) the prohibition of trespassing on the airport by persons or animals,

(d) the securing of the safety of the airport and of aircraft and persons using it against damage and, in particular, damage by fire,

(e) the restriction and control of any activity or the provision of services in the airport,

(f) matters relating to airside operations (including procedures relating to the fuelling of aircraft, the handling of baggage and the servicing of and access to aircraft and related matters),

(g) the preservation of order and good conduct in the airport,

(h) the prevention of nuisances in the airport,

(i) the safe custody and re-delivery or disposal of any property found in the airport or in any aircraft or vehicle therein, the fixing of the charges to be made in respect of such safe custody or re-delivery, and the application, if any such property is disposed of by being sold, of the moneys arising from the sale,

(j) generally for the proper management, operation, supervision, safety and security of the airport,

(k) the definition of the duties of persons in command of any aircraft for the time being on the ground in an airport,

(l) the specification of the routes to be followed by aircraft and other vehicles,

(m) the prohibition or restriction and control of the use of specified roads by persons or vehicles generally or during particular hours or at particular times or in particular circumstances,

(n) the prohibition of the driving of vehicles on a specified road otherwise than in a specified direction,

F12[(o) the making of provision for—

(i) the fixing of an immobilisation device to any vehicle which has been parked contrary to bye-laws made under this section or parked without payment of the charge fixed for its parking,

(ii) the removal of such an immobilisation device,

(iii) the removal, detention, storage and release of a vehicle so immobilised, and

(iv) the disposal of vehicles detained.]

(p) the regulation of small public service vehicles (within the meaning of section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1961) in the airport,

(q) the regulation of traffic generally including speed of traffic,

(r) fixing the places (in this section referred to as parking places) in which vehicles, whether unattended or not, may remain stationary either indefinitely or for any period not exceeding a specified period,

(s) appointing the conditions to be observed in regard to vehicles remaining stationary in parking places,

(t) fixing the period during which, the purposes for which and the conditions under which vehicles may remain stationary in places, other than parking places,

(u) prohibiting keeping or leaving any vehicles stationary in any place (including parking places) for a period exceeding the period authorised in that behalf by the bye-laws or for a purpose other than a purpose so authorised in that behalf or otherwise than for a purpose (if any) or in accordance with the conditions (if any) prescribed in that behalf by the bye-laws,

(v) prohibiting the driving of vehicles within the airport at a speed exceeding a specified speed.

(4) In making any bye-laws under this section, in relation to a State airport, the company concerned, or in relation to an airport which is not a State airport, the Minister, may—

(a) define, in such manner as he, she or it thinks proper, what shall constitute, for the purposes of any provision of the bye-laws, a class of persons or vehicles,

(b) make different provisions in relation to different airports and different parts of the airport,

(c) make different provisions in relation to different classes of persons to whom the bye-laws apply,

(d) make different provisions in relation to different classes of vehicles to which the bye-laws apply,

(e) exempt from the operation of the bye-laws any particular class of persons or vehicles.

(5) Whenever a company or the Minister proposes to make bye-laws under this section, the following provisions have effect—

(a) the company or the Minister, as the case may be, shall publish notice of the proposal at least once in at least 2 daily newspapers published in and circulating in the State or the area where the airport is situated,

(b) the notice shall include—

(i) a statement of the purposes for which the bye-laws are to be made,

(ii) an intimation that a copy of draft bye-laws is open for public inspection at the address stated in the notice, and

(iii) an intimation that any person may submit to the company or the Minister, as the case may be, objections to the draft bye-laws at any time during the period of 30 days commencing on the date of the first publication of the notice,

(c) the company or the Minister, as the case may be, shall, during that period of 30 days, keep a copy of the draft bye-laws open for public inspection during ordinary office hours at the address stated in the notice,

(d) any person who objects to the draft bye-laws may submit his or her objection to the company or the Minister, as the case may be, in writing at any time during that period of 30 days and the company or the Minister, as the case may be, shall consider the objections, and

(e) on the completion of that period of 30 days, the company or the Minister, as the case may be, shall as he, she or it thinks proper refrain from making the bye-laws or make the bye-laws either without modification or with such modifications to the bye-laws as he, she or it thinks proper.

(6) A company shall on, or as soon as may be after, the first publication of a notice under subsection (5), send a copy of the notice together with a copy of the draft bye-laws to the Minister. The company shall, before making the bye-laws, have regard to any observations made by the Minister on the draft bye-laws, made within the period of 30 days from the date of first publication of the notice.

(7) A company may, where it proposes to make bye-laws which it considers for reasons of urgency should be in operation immediately or are of a minor or technical nature, with the consent of the Minister, dispense with the requirements of subsections (5) and (6) in relation to the making of the bye-laws.

(8) The Minister may, where he or she proposes to make bye-laws which he or she considers for reasons of urgency should be in operation immediately or are of a minor or technical nature, dispense with the requirements of subsection (5) in relation to the making of the bye-laws.

F13[(9) A person who contravenes a provision of a bye-law made under this section which is stated in the bye-laws to be a penal provision commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a class C fine.

(9A) Where, in relation to the parking of a mechanically propelled vehicle at an airport there is a contravention of a provision referred to in subsection (9) each of the following commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a class C fine—

(a) the registered owner of the vehicle, and

(b) if the vehicle is the subject of a hire-drive agreement on the occasion in question, the person to whom the vehicle is hired under the agreement, and

(c) if the person who parked the vehicle is not its registered owner or the person to whom it is hired under a hire-drive agreement, the first-mentioned person.

(9B) Where a person is charged with an offence—

(a) under subsection (9A)(a), it shall be a defence for him or her to show that the vehicle was being used on the occasion in question by another person and that—

(i) the use of the vehicle which contravened the provision was unauthorised, or

(ii) the vehicle was on that occasion the subject of a hire-drive agreement, or

(b) under subsection (9A)(b), it shall be a defence for him or her to show that the vehicle was being used on the occasion in question by another person and that the use of the vehicle which contravened the provision was unauthorised.]

(10) The company or the Minister, as the case may be, shall consult the Irish Aviation Authority before making bye-laws which in whole or in part relate to, a purpose referred to in subsection (3)(k), or the safety of aircraft.

(11) Bye-laws made under this section shall be displayed at the airport, in respect of which the bye-laws are made, in such manner as the company which made them (or, where the bye-laws are made by the Minister, the Minister) considers best adapted for giving information to the public.

(12) A company in the case of bye-laws made by it and the Minister in the case of bye-laws made by him or her shall give a copy of the bye-laws to any person applying for them on payment of such reasonable sum, if any, being a sum (not exceeding the reasonable cost of making the copy) as fixed by the company or the Minister, as the case may be.

(13) A document which purports to be a copy of bye-laws made under this section, and which has endorsed on it a certificate purporting to be signed by an officer of the company which made the bye-laws (or where the bye-laws are made by the Minister, an officer of the Minister authorised in that behalf) stating that the document is a true copy of the bye-laws and that the bye-laws were in force on a specified day, shall, without proof of the signature of such officer or that he or she was in fact such officer, be evidence, until the contrary is shown, in every court and in all legal proceedings, of the bye-laws and of the fact that they were in force on that date.

(14) Section 42 of the Act of 1998 is repealed.

(15) Bye-laws made under the Act of 1998 which are in force immediately before the passing of this Act continue as if made under this section. Those bye-laws are penal provisions for the purposes of subsection (9).

F14[(16) In this section—

‘company’ means—

(a) daa, in relation to Dublin Airport,

(b) Shannon Airport Authority, in relation to Shannon Airport, or

(c) daa before the Cork appointed day, and Cork Airport Authority, from the Cork appointed day, in relation to Cork Airport;

‘immobilisation device’ means a device or appliance designed or adapted for fixing to a vehicle, onto a part of it, for the purpose of preventing it being driven or otherwise put in motion.

(17) In this section and sections 27 and 27A ‘hire-drive agreement’, ‘mechanically propelled vehicle’ and ‘registered owner’ have the meanings assigned to them, respectively, by the Road Traffic Act 1961.]