Local Government Act, 1946

Accounts of certain public bodies.

68.—(1) For the purposes of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1902 , and this section, each of the following bodies (and no other body) shall be a public body, that is to say:

(a) a local authority,

(b) the Dublin Fever Hospital Board,

(c) the Cork Fever Hospital Board.

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of any enactment in force at the commencement of this section, the following enactments shall apply in relation to the accounts of every public body and the audit of such accounts, that is to say:

(a) sections 12 (as amended by section 19 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1902 ) and 18 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1871 ,

(b) subsection (2) (except paragraph (c), repealed by this Act) of section 63 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898 ,

(c) sub-article (3) of article 19 of the Schedule to the Local Government (Application of Enactments) Order, 1898,

(d) Part VII and section 86 of the Act of 1941.

(3) For the purposes of the application by subsection (2) of this section of any of the enactments mentioned in that subsection, the auditor assigned by the Minister under section 68 of the Act of 1941 to audit the accounts of a public body shall have all the powers and duties conferred by such enactment on the auditor mentioned therein.

(4) Every provision in any enactment relating to the accounts of a public body (whether such enactment is of general or local application) which is of similar or corresponding effect as or is inconsistent with any of the enactments mentioned in subsection (2) of this section shall cease to have effect to the extent of such similarity, correspondence or inconsistency (as the case may be).

(5) Sections 69 , 70 and 71 of the Act of 1941 shall apply in relation to a board of conservators under the Fisheries Acts, 1842 to 1944, as if the board were a local authority for the purposes of those sections.

(6) The manager for a local authority which is an elective body for the purposes of the County Management Acts, 1940 and 1942, shall be deemed for the purposes of section 20 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1902 , as amended by subsection (3) of section 61 of the Local Government Act, 1925 (No. 5 of 1925), to be an officer of such local authority.

(7) Section 86 of the Act of 1941, as amended by section 93 of this Act, shall apply in the case of an audit of the accounts of a vocational education committee, a committee of agriculture or a board of conservators under the Fisheries Acts, 1842 to 1944, in like manner as that section, as so amended, applies in the case of an audit of the accounts of a local authority.

(8) If, on an application to the High Court under section 12 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1871 , by a person aggrieved by a surcharge made under the said section 12 or a charge made under section 20 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1902 , the High Court confirms the surcharge or charge, such person may apply to the Minister within the prescribed time to remit the surcharge or charge, and, if on such application the Minister is of opinion that the circumstances of the case make it fair and equitable that the surcharge or charge should be remitted, he may direct that the same shall be remitted upon payment of the costs incurred by the auditor or other competent authority in resisting such application and otherwise enforcing the surcharge or charge.