Housing (Amendment) Act, 1946

Grant for extra room for person suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis.

3.—(1) Where a county medical officer of health or medical superintendent officer of health certifies that a member of the household of a house situated in the area for which such officer acts is suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis for which he is undergoing treatment and that the existing accommodation of the house is inadequate for his proper treatment or for his segregation from the other members of the household, the following provisions shall have effect:—

(a) the local authority administering the Tuberculosis Prevention (Ireland) Acts, 1908 and 1913, in the area in which the house is situated may, and if so required by the Minister, shall make to the owner or occupier of the house a grant towards the provision of an extra room in or attached to the house or towards the alteration or modification of an existing room,

(b) the grant shall not exceed the cost, as approved of by the Minister, of the provision of the extra room or of the alteration or modification of an existing room,

(c) where the grant is made on a requisition by the Minister under paragraph (a) of this subsection, the amount thereof shall, subject to paragraph (b) of this subsection, be such as the Minister directs,

(d) such local authority shall not make the grant unless and until it is certified that the house is suitable for being provided with an extra room or for having an existing room altered or modified,

(e) subject to paragraph (f) of this subsection, such local authority shall not pay the grant unless and until it is certified that the provision of the extra room or the alteration or modification of an existing room has been completed in a proper and workmanlike manner,

(f) such local authority may decide to pay the grant in instalments payable on the completion of specified stages of the provision of the extra room or the alteration or modification of an existing room and, where they so decide, they shall not pay any such instalment unless and until it is certified that the stage to which the instalment relates has been completed in a proper and workmanlike manner,

(g) the Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance and in accordance with the regulations made under this section, recoup to such local authority an amount not exceeding one hundred pounds or two-thirds of the grant, whichever is the less.

(2) In subsection (1) of this section the word “certified” means, in relation to any matter, certified by an officer appointed by the Minister to certify that matter or, in the case of an appeal to the Minister from a refusal by the officer so to certify, by the Minister.

(3) A person aggrieved by the refusal of an officer appointed under this section by the Minister to certify any matter may appeal against the refusal to the Minister, and on the appeal the Minister may, as he thinks proper, either confirm the refusal or give the certificate which was refused, and the decision of the Minister on the appeal shall be final and conclusive.

(4) Where a grant is made under this section towards the provision of an extra room in or attached to a house, the valuation of the hereditament or tenement consisting of or including the house shall not, on any valuation or revision of the valuation thereof coming into force within seven years after the completion of such provision, be increased on account of any increase in the value of the hereditament or tenement arising from such provision.

(5) The Minister may make regulations for the purposes of this section.

(6) Every regulation made by the Minister under subsection (5) of this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution is passed by either such House within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which that House has sat annulling such regulation, such regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such regulation.

(7) A local authority may raise or borrow any sum required by them for the purposes of this section as if they required such sum for the purposes of the Tuberculosis Prevention (Ireland) Acts, 1908 and 1913, and any sum so borrowed shall not be reckoned for the purposes of any limitation on borrowing applicable to such local authority.

(8) The aggregate amount of the recoupments to be made by the Minister under this section shall not exceed one hundred thousand pounds.