51.— (1) The owner or master of a ship or boat who proposes to undertake a tendering operation at any place in the State in respect of that ship or boat must apply to the Minister for a permit to undertake such operation (“permit to tender”) by submitting, for approval, proposals in a tendering operations safety plan for such undertaking in the form as may be prescribed in regulations made under section 52(1).

(2) An application for a permit to tender must be made in good time to enable the Minister to have the proposals in the tendering operations safety plan approved or otherwise, before the date of the proposed tendering operation, and, unless notified to the contrary, no later than 28 days before the date of the proposed tendering operation.

(3) The following provisions of the Merchant Shipping Acts do not apply to a vessel’s tender, namely—

(a) section 271 of the Principal Act,

(b) section 10, 15, 18 or 20 of the Act of 1952,

(c) section 6 or 15 of the Act of 1992,

(d) section 8 of the Act of 1992 or that section as applied by the European Communities (Passenger Ships) Regulations 2004 (S.I. No. 716 of 2004), and

(e) section 82 or 84 of this Act.