PART I.

Preliminary and General.

1. —This Act may be cited as the Poultry Hatcheries Act, 1947.

2. —This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as may be fixed therefor by any order or orders of the Minister either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so fixed for different purposes and different provisions of this Act.

3. —In this Act—

the expression “approved egg supply farm” means an egg supply farm for the time being approved under section 13 of this Act and the words “approve” and “approval” shall be construed accordingly;

the word “eggs” means the eggs of poultry;

the expression “egg supply farm” means any premises where eggs are produced for hatching;

the word “inspector” means a person authorised under subsection (1) of section 19 of this Act;

the expression “licensed poultry hatchery” means a poultry hatchery for the time being licensed under this Act;

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Agriculture;

the word “poultry” means birds of any of the following species, domestic fowls, ducks, geese, turkeys, guinea fowls and pheasants;

the expression “poultry hatchery” means any premises for the hatching of eggs by artificial means;

the expression “poultry hatchery licence” means a licence granted under subsection (1) of section 9 of this Act and for the time being in force;

the word “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;

the expression “provisional permit” means a provisional permit granted under subsection (1) of section 16 of this Act and for the time being in force.

4. —An offence under any section of this Act may be prosecuted by the Minister.

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

6. —The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

7. —(1) There shall be payable to the Minister, in respect of a poultry hatchery licence, the approval of an egg supply farm or a provisional permit, such (if any) fee as the Minister shall, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, from time to time fix in respect thereof.

(2) The following provisions shall apply in respect of all fees paid to the Minister under this section—

(a) such fees shall be collected in money and taken in such manner as the Minister for Finance may from time to time direct, and shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in accordance with the directions of the Minister for Finance;

(b) the Public Offices Fees Act, 1879, shall not apply in respect of such fees.