39.— (1) The Government, on the request of the Attorney General, may by order appoint a day from which the Director, subject to subsection (2), is the prosecutor in lieu of the Attorney General, of an offence under a section specified in a Table. That Order shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made.

(2) Any proceedings in respect of an offence under a section specified in a Table or a Table to section 2 of the Act of 1978 which have been instituted in the name of the Attorney General before the commencement of an order under subsection (1) and are still pending and have not been determined before that commencement continue in the name of the Attorney General after that commencement.

(3) Any proceedings for an offence under a section specified in a Table to section 2 of the Act of 1978 which have not been instituted on the commencement of an order under subsection (1) shall be taken in the name of the Director. Accordingly, for the purposes of those proceedings, the reference to the Attorney General in section 2 of the Act of 1978 is to be read as a reference to the Director and section 18 of the Act of 1978 does not apply.

(4) Until the commencement of an order made under subsection (1)—

(a) section 3 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1974 does not apply to the prosecution of an offence under a section specified in a Table or a Table to section 2 of the Act of 1978 or to any functions in relation to that matter to which, but for this subsection, it would apply, and

(b) references in section 62 of the Courts of Justice Act 1936 and section 6 of the Courts Act 1964 to the Director are, in so far as those sections apply in relation to the offences referred to in paragraph (a) or to any functions referred to in that paragraph, to be construed as references to the Attorney General.

(5) Subsection (4) stands repealed upon the commencement of an order made under subsection (1).

(6) In this section—

“Act of 1978” means Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1978;

“Director” means Director of Public Prosecutions.