Local Government Reform Act 2014

SCHEDULE 4

Consequential Provisions Relating to Local Authorities

Definition (Schedule 4).

1. In this Schedule “relevant day or date” means the 2014 establishment day or the transfer date, as the circumstances require.

Transfer of assets.

2. (1) All assets, whether real or personal (including choses-in-action) which, immediately before the relevant day or date, were vested in or belonged to or were held in trust for a dissolved authority and all rights, powers, licences and privileges relating to or connected with any such assets shall, on the relevant day or date, without any conveyance or assignment, but subject where necessary to transfer in the books of any bank, corporation or company, be transferred to and become and be vested in or the property of or held in trust for (as the case may require) the successor authority to such dissolved authority for all the estate, term or interest for which the same, immediately before their dissolution, was vested in or belonged to or was held in trust for such dissolved authority but subject to all trusts and equities affecting the same and then subsisting and capable of being performed.

(2) Any asset transferred by this paragraph which, immediately before the relevant day or date, was standing in the books of any bank or was registered in the books of any bank, corporation, or company in the name of a dissolved authority shall, upon the request of the successor authority to which such asset was transferred, at any time on or after the relevant day or date, be transferred in such books by such bank, corporation or company into the name of that successor authority.

(3) On and from the relevant day or date, every chose-in-action transferred in accordance with the provisions of this paragraph may be sued upon, recovered or enforced by the successor authority to which it was transferred in its own name, and it shall not be necessary for that authority to give notice to the person bound by such chose-in-action of the transfer effected by this paragraph.

Transfer of liabilities.

3. (1) Every debt and other liability (including stock and mortgage debts, and unliquidated liabilities arising from torts or breaches of contract) which immediately before the relevant day or date was owing and unpaid or had been incurred and was undischarged by a dissolved authority, shall, on that day or date become and be the debt or liability of the successor authority to the dissolved authority and shall be paid or discharged by and may be recovered from or enforced against the successor authority.

(2) Every debt the liability for which is transferred by this paragraph shall, on and after the relevant day or date, be charged on the local fund and the county rate of the successor authority to the dissolved authority.

(3) A dissolution under this Act does not invalidate or otherwise affect any payable order or cheque issued by a dissolved authority and which is not presented for payment before the relevant day or date or any permission or other authority given by a dissolved authority for the payment of the amount of a paying order, and the successor authority shall make arrangements for the payment of the amount of every such paying order upon due presentation within a reasonable time after the relevant day or date.

Transfer of staff.

4. (1) (a) Subject to clause (b) every person who, immediately before the relevant day or date, as the case may be, was a member of the staff of a dissolved authority shall, on such day or date become and be a member of the staff of the relevant successor authority.

(b) Every person who, immediately before the relevant day or date, as the case may be, was a fixed-term employee of a dissolved authority shall, on such day or date, become and be a fixed-term employee of the relevant successor authority for the duration of his or her contract of employment.

(c) Nothing in this paragraph shall be read as affecting the provisions of Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004 that relate to the redeployment of staff of a dissolved authority.

(2) Except in accordance with a collective agreement negotiated with a recognised trade union or staff association concerned a person referred to in subparagraph (1) shall not, on the relevant day or date, as the case may be, be brought to less beneficial terms and conditions of service (including those relating to tenure of office) or of remuneration than the terms and conditions of service (including those relating to tenure of office) or of remuneration to which he or she was subject immediately before such day or date.

(3) In subparagraph (2), a reference to terms and conditions of remuneration does not include conditions in relation to superannuation.

(4) In relation to a person referred to in subparagraph (1), previous service with the dissolved authority from which the person was transferred shall be reckonable for the purposes of, but subject to any exceptions or exclusions in, the following:

(a) the Redundancy Payments Acts 1996 to 2011;

(b) the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001;

(c) the Act of 2003;

(d) the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997;

(e) the Terms of Employment (Information) Acts 1994 to 2012;

(f) the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts 1973 to 2005;

(g) the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2007;

(h) the Maternity Protection Acts 1994 and 2004;

(i) the Parental Leave Acts 1998 and 2006;

(j) the Adoptive Leave Acts 1995 and 2005;

(k) the Carer’s Leave Act 2001.

(5) Any superannuation benefits awarded to or in respect of a person transferred in accordance with this paragraph, and the terms and conditions relating to those benefits, shall be no less favourable than those applicable to or in respect of the person immediately before the commencement of this Act.

(6) In this paragraph—

“Act of 2003” means the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003;

“contract of employment” has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 2003;

“fixed-term employee” has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 2003;

“public service body” has the same meaning as it has in section 3(1) of the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 2011;

“recognised trade union or staff association” means a trade union or staff association recognised by the Minister for the purpose of negotiations which are concerned with the remuneration or conditions of employment, or the working conditions of employees;

“previous service with the dissolved authority” includes an entitlement in respect of any service for which the dissolved authority is duly accountable.

Preservation of continuing contracts.

5. Every bond, guarantee or other security of a continuing character made or given by a dissolved authority to another person or by any person to any dissolved authority and in force immediately before the relevant day or date and every contract or agreement in writing made between any dissolved authority and another person and not fully executed and completed before the relevant day or date shall, notwithstanding the dissolution of the authority concerned, continue in force on and after the relevant day or date but shall be construed and have effect as if the name of the successor authority to the dissolved authority were substituted therein for the name of that dissolved authority, and such security, contract or agreement shall be enforceable by or against the successor authority accordingly.

Saving for certain acts and resolutions.

6. (1) Nothing in this Act shall affect the validity of any act that was done before the relevant day or date by or on behalf of a dissolved authority.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subparagraph (1)

(a) any resolution passed, order made or notice given or served, by a dissolved authority before the relevant day or date, the operation, effect or terms of which had not on that day or date ceased or expired shall, in so far as it is not inconsistent with this Act or any order or regulations made thereunder, continue in force and have effect after that day or date as if it were a resolution passed, order made or notice given or served by the successor authority on the date on which the resolution, order or notice, as the case may be, was actually passed, made, given or served by the dissolved authority and as if the functions of the dissolved authority were, on that day or date, performable by the successor authority,

(b) any thing done, or treated by virtue of any enactment as having been done, by, to or in relation to a dissolved authority before the relevant day or date in the exercise or performance of or by such authority of any of its functions shall, on and after the relevant day or date and in so far as it is not inconsistent with this Act or any order or regulations made thereunder, be treated as having been done, by, to or in relation to the successor authority concerned,

(c) any reference in a document to a dissolved authority and to which subparagraph (3) relates shall, on and after the relevant day or date, be construed as a reference to the successor authority concerned.

(3) In this paragraph “thing” includes—

(a) any written agreement or other instrument in writing or any scheme, plan, statement, policy, determination, declaration, undertaking, made or adopted by or on behalf of, or to be treated as having been made or adopted by or on behalf of, a dissolved authority,

(b) any direction given, revocation made, or to be treated as having been given or made, by or to a dissolved authority,

(c) any lease, licence, way-leave, permit, certificate, permission, consent, approval, authorisation, exemption, relaxation, acknowledgment or dispensation, whether (where appropriate) relating to land or otherwise, granted or given, or to be treated as having been granted or given, by or to a dissolved authority,

(d) any application, proposal or objection made, or to be treated as having been made, by or to a dissolved authority,

(e) any condition or requirement imposed, or to be treated as having been imposed, or any notice served or to be treated as having been served, by or on a dissolved authority.

(4) Subparagraphs (2) and (3) shall be interpreted as illustrative and not as restrictive.

Continuance of bye-laws, rules and regulations.

7. Every bye-law, rule and regulation lawfully made by a dissolved authority and in force immediately before the relevant day or date shall, on or after that day or date, so far as it is not inconsistent with this Act or any order or regulation made thereunder and so far as it relates to the administrative area of the successor authority to the dissolved authority or part of that area, continue in force and have effect as a bye-law, rule or regulation made by that successor authority to the dissolved authority in respect of the area for and in respect of which the bye-law, rule or regulation was actually made by the dissolved authority and, accordingly, every such bye-law, rule or regulation may be continued, amended or revoked, and any penalties or forfeitures arising thereunder, before or after the relevant day or date, may be recovered and enforced by that successor authority in the like manner and as fully as the same could have been continued, amended, revoked, recovered or enforced by the dissolved authority as if sections 17 and 24 had not come into force.

Continuation of development plans.

8. The development plans for the administrative area of a dissolved authority so far as they applied and had effect as regards that area immediately prior to the relevant day or date shall, on and from that day or date, be deemed to have been made by the successor authority to the dissolved authority and be development plans for that area as if the functions of the dissolved authority were, on the date on which that plan had been duly made by that dissolved authority, performable by the successor authority.

Admissibility in evidence of documents of dissolved authorities.

9. (1) All books and other documents directed or authorised by or under any enactment to be kept by a dissolved authority and which, immediately before the relevant day or date, would be receivable in evidence shall, notwithstanding the dissolution of such authority, be admitted in evidence on or after the relevant day or date as fully as if this Act had not been enacted.

(2) Whenever an extract from or certificate of the contents of any book or other document directed or authorised by or under any enactment to be kept by a dissolved authority would, if verified in a particular manner by a particular officer of such dissolved authority, have been admissible immediately before the relevant day or date as evidence of such contents, an extract from or certificate of the contents of such book or document shall, if verified in such particular manner by the chief executive of the successor authority concerned or by an officer of that successor authority (whose official position it shall not be necessary to prove) authorised by the chief executive in that behalf, be admitted, on or after the relevant day or date, as evidence of such contents to the same extent as such first-mentioned extract or certificate would have been so admitted if this Act had not been enacted.

Audit of accounts.

10. (1) In respect of the local financial year in which the relevant day or date occurs—

(a) the accounts of each authority to be dissolved shall continue to be maintained by the authority concerned until it is dissolved, and

(b) with effect from the relevant day or date, the accounts of a dissolved authority shall be amalgamated with the accounts of the successor authority and be maintained by the successor authority as if the dissolved authority had been dissolved at the commencement of that year,

and, accordingly, the accounts of the successor authority to be audited for that year shall include the matters to which clause (b) relates and those accounts shall be so audited.

(2) Until the audit required by subparagraph (1) is completed, any employee of a dissolved authority whose duty it is to make up any accounts of or to account for any portion of the income and expenditure of the dissolved authority and every member of a dissolved authority shall, for the purposes of the audit and so far as is practicable, be deemed to continue in office and be bound to perform the same duties and render the same accounts and be subject to the same liabilities as if this Act had not been passed.

Continuance of pending legal proceedings.

11. In any action, suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding which was pending immediately before the relevant day or date in any court or tribunal and to which a dissolved authority was a party, the successor authority to that dissolved authority shall on the relevant day or date become and be a party or parties in the place of the dissolved authority and that successor authority shall accordingly be substituted for such dissolved authority and every such proceeding shall be continued between that successor authority and the other parties to those proceedings, and no such proceeding shall abate or be discontinued or prejudicially affected by reason of the dissolution of the dissolved authority.

Adoptive Acts.

12. (1) Where any enactment has been adopted by a dissolved authority in respect of the whole or a specified part of its administrative area and the authority had not rescinded such adoption the enactment shall, on and after the relevant day or date, be deemed to have been adopted by the successor authority to the dissolved authority in respect of the area for and in respect of which the same was actually adopted by the dissolved authority and for the purposes of this paragraph that successor authority shall be deemed to have had power to adopt the enactment.

(2) Where any enactment is deemed to have been adopted pursuant to subparagraph (1) such adoption may at any time be rescinded by resolution of the successor authority concerned in respect of all or part of its administrative area.

Local Acts.

13. Every local Act in force immediately before the relevant day or date in, or in relation to, all or any part of the administrative area of a dissolved authority shall, on and after such day or date and so far as it is consistent with the provisions of this Act or any order or regulations made under this Act, be in force in, or in relation to, such part or parts of the administrative area of the successor authority to such dissolved authority as correspond to the area in or in relation to which such Act was in force on such day or date.

Money due in respect of rates or rent.

14. (1) Without prejudice to subparagraph (2), all rates, rent, and other money which immediately before the relevant day or date are due and payable to a dissolved authority shall on and after that day or date become due and be payable to the successor authority concerned and any such rates, rent and money may be collected and recovered by or on behalf of that successor authority in like manner as they could be collected or recovered by or on behalf of the dissolved authority if this Act had not been enacted.

(2) All rates, rent and other money which immediately before the relevant day or date are accruing due to a dissolved authority shall on and after that day or date accrue and be deemed always to have accrued due to the successor authority concerned, and where any such rate, rent or money becomes due and payable the same shall be due and payable to and may be collected and recovered by or on behalf of such successor authority in like manner as it could have been collected or recovered by or on behalf of the dissolved authority if this Act had not been enacted.

(3) Every rate collector of a dissolved authority who is in office as such rate collector immediately before the relevant day or date shall, on and after that day or date unless or until the successor authority to the dissolved authority otherwise directs, collect and recover on behalf of such successor all rates which immediately before that day or date were due and payable to or were accruing due to such dissolved authority and had been given in charge to such rate collector for collection.

(4) For the purposes of this paragraph, the amount of rent payable to a successor authority by a person who was a tenant of a dwelling let by a dissolved authority shall, on the relevant day or date be determined for the period commencing on that day or date and ending on F4[30 June 2015], in accordance with the rent scheme operated by the dissolved authority under section 58 of the Housing Act 1966 in respect of its dwellings immediately before that day or date.

Valuation lists.

15. (1) The valuation list applicable to a successor authority on the relevant day or date shall be—

(a) except where clause (b) applies, the valuation list (including any revisions) relating to the dissolved authorities concerned last before that day or date as relates to the area comprised in the county or city and county concerned, or

(b) where the Commissioner of Valuation made orders before the relevant day or date under section 19 of the Valuation Act 2001 in respect of the dissolved authorities concerned, the list to which section 33(1) relates.

(2) Where the valuation of any relevant property in the administrative area of a dissolved authority is at any time for any reason revised or altered (including any case where such revision or alteration arises as a result of any appeal or other process commenced before the relevant day or date), the rate shall be assessed in accordance with such revised or altered valuation and may be levied, collected and recovered accordingly by the successor authority concerned.

Continuation of housing allocation schemes.

16. An allocation scheme made under section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 by a dissolved authority to which section 17 relates that is in force immediately before the 2014 establishment date shall—

(a) be deemed to have been made by the successor authority to the dissolved authority on that date, and

(b) continue to have effect in respect of the former administrative area of the dissolved authority concerned until such time as that successor authority makes an allocation scheme under the said section 22.

Register of electors.

17. With effect from the relevant day or date and until the next following register of electors comes into force—

(a) the register of electors in force for the Limerick registration area shall be the register of electors for Limerick City and County,

(b) the register of electors in force for the Tipperary registration area shall be the register of electors for Tipperary County, and

(c) the register of electors in force for the Waterford registration area shall be the register of electors for Waterford City and County.

Polling districts.

18. With effect from the relevant day or date, and until the first scheme under section 28 of the Electoral Act 1992 in respect of the successor authority is made, the arrangements with respect to polling districts in the areas of the relevant dissolved authorities shall be deemed to be an arrangement with respect to polling districts in the area of the successor authority.

Continuation of membership of certain bodies.

19. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act and any regulations made under it, all persons appointed (whether by nomination, election or otherwise) as members of any body by a dissolved authority shall continue to be members of the body to which they were so appointed for such period as they would have held such office if this Act had not been enacted save in any case where provision to the contrary is made by any such body.

(2) This paragraph applies to appointments—

(a) of persons who were, immediately before the relevant day or date, members of a dissolved authority who, on or after that day or date, would continue to be members of the authority referred to in subparagraph (1) had such dissolved authority not been dissolved,

(b) of persons to whom clause (a) does not apply,

(c) to bodies whether corporate or unincorporate.

Annotations

Amendments:

F4

Substituted (15.09.2014) by Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 (21/2014), s. 57, S.I. No. 404 of 2014.

Modifications (not altering text):

C4

Application of schedule extended (1.06.2014) by Local Government Reform Act 2014 (Dissolution of the County Tipperary Joint Libraries Committee and Transfer of Assets and Liabilities) Order 2014 (S.I. No. 232 of 2014), reg. 5.

4. On 1 June 2014, the assets and liabilities of the Joint Committee transfer to Tipperary County Council in accordance with Article 5.

5. The provisions of section 26(2)(d) and Schedule 4 (other than paragraphs 6(2)(a), 7, 8, 12, 13, subparagraphs (3) and (4) of paragraph 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18) of the Act of 2014 apply to the transfer of assets and liabilities referred to in Article 4.