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18 1949

FISHERIES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1949

PART IV.

Fines and Forfeitures.

“The salmon fisheries enactments.”

8. —In this Part, the expression “the salmon fisheries enactment” means the enactments mentioned in the Third Schedule to this Act or any instrument made thereunder relating to fishing for salmon, trout or eels.

Fines.

Disposal of fines under the Acts.

9. —(1) This section applies to every fine imposed after the commencement of this Part for any offence under the Acts or any instrument made thereunder.

(2) Section 51 of the Court Officers Act, 1926 (No. 27 of 1926), shall cease to apply to any fine to which this section applies.

(3) Every fine to which this section applies shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct.

(4) Where a fine to which this section applies is remitted in whole or in part after it has been paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer under subsection (3) of this section, such fine or the portion thereof so remitted (as the case may be) shall be repaid out of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct.

Payments by the Minister in respect of fines for offences under the salmon fisheries enactments.

10. —(1) Where a fine, imposed after the commencement of this Part, for an offence under the salmon fisheries enactments has been paid or levied, then, unless the fine has been wholly remitted, the following provisions shall apply—

(a) in case it appears to the Minister that a member of the Garda Síochána was the means of bringing to justice the person by whom the offence was committed, there shall be paid—

(i) to the board of conservators of the fishery district in which the offence was committed a sum equal to two-thirds of the fine or, if the fine was remitted in part, of so much thereof as was not remitted, and

(ii) into the Garda Síochána Reward Fund a sum equal to one-third of the fine or, if the fine was remitted in part, of so much thereof as was not remitted,

(b) in any other case, there shall be paid to the said board of conservators a sum equal to the fine or, if the fine was remitted in part, so much thereof as was not remitted.

(2) All moneys payable under subsection (1) of this section shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas by the Minister at such times as he thinks fit.

Forfeitures.

Amendment of certain provisions of the Acts, etc, providing for forfeiture.

11. —Where any section (being a section creating an offence) of the Acts or any instrument (being an instrument creating an offence) made under the Acts provides, as part of the punishment for the offence and as a consequence of conviction thereof, that the person convicted of that offence shall forfeit a particular thing or that a particular thing shall be forfeited, the said section or instrument shall be construed as if, in lieu of that provision, it provided that, where a person is convicted of that offence, the thing, specified in the said section or instrument as the thing to be forfeited, shall, as a statutory consequence of conviction, stand forfeited.

Non-obligation of Court to pronounce or record forfeiture where forfeiture falls as a statutory consequence of conviction.

12. —Where—

(a) a person is convicted by a District Justice of an offence under any section of the Acts or any instrument made thereunder, and

(b) the said section or instrument (as amended by this Act) provides that a particular thing shall, as a statutory consequence of conviction, stand forfeited,

then, notwithstanding any rule of law, it shall not be necessary for the said Justice to—

(i) pronounce the fact of such forfeiture at the time of adjudication, or

(ii) record the fact of such forfeiture in the Justice's Minute Book or the Charge Sheet or in the order of conviction.

Proceedings consequent upon seizure of unlawful fishing engines and lawful fishing engines unlawfully used.

13. —Where any person, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by the Acts, seizes any fishing engine, he shall, as soon as may be, bring it before the District Justice in whose district it was seized, and thereupon the following provisions shall have effect—

(a) if the District Justice finds that the fishing engine is an unlawful fishing engine, he shall order it to be forfeited and destroyed,

(b) if the District Justice finds that the fishing engine is a lawful fishing engine but at the time of its seizure had been, was being, or was about to be, unlawfully used, he shall order it to be forfeited,

(c) if the District Justice finds that the fishing engine is a lawful fishing engine but at the time of its seizure had not been, was not being, or was not about to be, unlawfully used, he shall order it to be returned to the person who appears to him to be the owner thereof.

Disposal of forfeitures.

14. —(1) Where—

(a) any thing, which, either as a statutory consequence of conviction or by order of a District Justice, is forfeited under the Acts or the Acts as amended by this Act or any instrument made thereunder, is lawfully seized, or

(b) any thing is ordered by a District Justice under paragraph

(b) of section 13 of this Act to be forfeited,

the Minister may direct that such thing shall—

(i) be returned to the person who appears to him to be the owner thereof, or

(ii) be sold or otherwise disposed of in such manner as he thinks fit.

(2) Where the Minister, in pursuance of subsection (1) of this section, directs a thing to be sold, the net proceeds of the sale shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct.

(3) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to any thing forfeited under section 13 of the Oyster Cultivation (Ireland) Act, 1884, where the Court gives a direction under the said section 13 in relation to such thing.

Payments by the Minister in respect of proceeds of forfeitures under the salmon fisheries enactments.

15. —Where—

(a) any thing is forfeited under the salmon fisheries enactments, and

(b) such thing is sold by direction of the Minister under section 14 of this Act,

the following provisions shall apply—

(i) in case it appears to him that a member of the Garda Síochána seized such thing or was the means of bringing to justice the person committing the offence which resulted in such forfeiture, the Minister shall, at such times as he thinks fit, pay out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas to the board of conservators for the fishery district in which the offence was committed a sum equal to two-thirds of the net proceeds of such sale and to the Garda Síochána Reward Fund a sum equal to one-third of the said net proceeds,

(ii) in any other case, the Minister shall, at such times as he thinks fit, pay out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas to such board of conservators a sum equal to the said net proceeds.