Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 4, between lines 31 and 32, to insert the following:“(c) by inserting after section 56 the following:

“Powers of Authority to make bye-laws for public passenger transport services (other than rail passenger services), enforcement etc.

56A. (1) Subject to subsection (8), bye-laws may be made by the Authority in relation to the performance by the Authority of any function conferred on it in connection with the provision of public passenger transport services (other than in respect of a rail passenger service) whether pursuant to a public transport services contract or a direct award contract under section 52, other than in respect of such a contract awarded by the Authority to Dublin Bus or Bus Éireann, in relation to any one or more of the following matters:

(a) the general regulation, subject to any statutory provisions in that behalf, of the travelling by way of or use of such means of transport services, (including a requirement to travel with a valid ticket or pass and the issue of such);

(b) the prevention of the commission of nuisances in or upon such means of transport services;

(c) the prevention of damage to such means of transport services;

(d) the removal from or the prohibition of the use on such means of transport services of any vehicle or thing which is or may become a danger to life, health, the provision or the operation of public passenger transport services or would otherwise interfere with the proper provision or the operation of such transport services;

(e) the safe custody and return or disposal of any property found on a vehicle or equipment used in the provision of public passenger transport services.

(2) Bye-laws under this section may contain such incidental, subsidiary and ancillary provisions as the Authority considers necessary or expedient for the purposes of the bye-laws.

(3) The Authority may provide for reasonable charges in respect of matters provided for in bye-laws made by it under this section.

(4) Whenever the Authority proposes to make bye-laws under this section, the following provisions have effect—

(a) the Authority shall, publish notice of the proposal—

(i) on its website, and

(ii) in at least 2 national newspapers circulating within the State or in the area to which the bye-laws relate,

(b) the notice shall include—

(i) a statement of the purposes for which the bye-laws are to be made,

(ii) an intimation that—

(I) a copy of the draft bye-laws is open for public inspection at the principal offices in the State of the Authority, and

(II) that the draft bye-laws are published on the Authority’s website,

and

(iii) an intimation that any person may submit to the Authority objections to the draft bye-laws at any time during the period of 30 days commencing on the date of the publication of the notice,

(c) the Authority shall, during that period of 30 days, keep a copy of the draft bye-laws open for public inspection during ordinary office hours at its principal offices, and publish the draft on its website,

(d) any person who objects to the draft bye-laws may submit his or her objection to the Authority in writing at any time during that period of 30 days and the Authority shall consider the objections, and

(e) on the completion of that period of 30 days, the Authority shall as it thinks proper, refrain from making the bye-laws or make the byelaws either without modification or with modification as it thinks proper.

(5) The Authority shall publish bye-laws made by it under this section on its website.

(6) Such details of bye-laws under this section shall be displayed on a public transport vehicle or equipment used in the provision of public passenger transport services, where practicable, in conspicuous places in such manner as the Authority considers best adapted for giving information to the public.

(7) The failure to publish under subsection (5) or any absence to display under subsection (6) is not a defence to a contravention of or failure to comply with bye-laws under this section.

(8) Bye-laws under this section shall not be made without the prior written consent of the Minister.

(9) A person who contravenes or fails to comply with a bye-law under this section which is stated in the bye-laws to be a penal provision commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a class D fine.

(10) The liability of an offender to a fine under subsection (9) does not prejudice the recovery of any fare, tariff or fee payable by him or her to the Authority or the person providing the public passenger transport services for any damage caused by him or her to property of the Authority or such person.

(11) Every bye-law made by the Authority under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas, as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the bye-law is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House sits after the bye-law is laid before it, the bye-law is annulled, but without prejudice to anything previously done under it.

Authorised persons

56B.(1) The Authority may appoint in writing such and so many persons as it considers necessary to be authorised persons to perform any or all of the functions conferred on an authorised person under section 56C or 56D.

(2) A person appointed as an authorised person under subsection (1), shall, on his or her appointment be furnished by the Authority with a warrant of his or her appointment and when exercising a power conferred on an authorised person under section 56C shall, if requested by any person affected, produce the warrant to that person for inspection.

(3) An authorised person, who is not a member of the Garda Síochána, is not entitled to exercise a power under section 56C unless he or she has received training and instruction, which, in the opinion of the Authority is such as will provide guidance to him or her in the exercise of the power.

(4) The Authority shall endorse on the warrant it furnishes to an authorised person under subsection (2) a statement to the effect that the officer has received the training and instruction referred to in subsection (3).

(5) An authorised person, who is not a member of the Garda Síochána, when exercising a power under this section shall be in uniform provided or authorised by the Authority.

(6) An authorised person, who is not a member of the Garda Síochána, may be referred to by the Authority by such title as it decides.

Powers of authorised person

56C.(1) If an authorised person appointed in accordance with section 56B reasonably suspects that a person—

(a) is contravening or has contravened or is failing or has failed to comply with a bye-law made under section 56A which is stated to be a penal provision,

(b) is assaulting or has assaulted or is causing or has caused deliberate harm to another on a public passenger transport service to which section 56A applies,

(c) is obstructing or has obstructed or is impeding or has impeded an authorised person exercising a function of an authorised person under this section or under any bye-laws made under section 56A,

(d) on any public transport service to which section 56A applies is intoxicated or is committing or has committed an offence under section 15 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977, or

(e) if requested by an authorised person to cease such contravention or action or to so comply, fails to comply with the request, he or she may—

(i) using such reasonable force as the circumstances require, remove or escort the person from the public passenger transport service or any part of it,

(ii) in circumstances where the authorised person considers it to be justified, arrest the person without warrant, or

(iii) require the person to give his or her name and address and, if the person fails or refuses to do so or gives a name that the authorised person reasonably suspects is false or misleading, arrest that person without warrant, and, if he or she is not a member of the Garda Síochána, deliver, as soon as practicable, the person, if arrested, into the custody of a member of the Garda Síochána to be dealt with according to law.

(2) A person who fails or refuses to give his or her name or address when required under subsection (1), or gives a name or address which he or she knows to be false or misleading, commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a class D fine.

(3) The arrest of a person under this section does not prejudice the rearrest of the person by a member of the Garda Síochána.

(4) In this section a reference to the committal of an offence or an act includes a reference to an attempt to commit the offence or the act.

(5) In this section and section 56D ‘authorised person’ means a person appointed under section 56B(1) or a member of the Garda Síochána whose attendance is requested by an authorised person or by the Authority.

Fixed payment notice

56D. (1) Where an authorised person has reasonable grounds for believing that a person is committing or has committed an offence under section 56A(9) (for a contravention or failure to comply with a provision of a bye-law made under that section) or section 56C(2), he or she may serve personally or by post on the person a notice (‘fixed payment notice’) in the prescribed form stating that—

(a) the person is alleged to have committed the offence specified in the notice,

(b) the person may, during the period of 21 days beginning on the date of the notice, make to the Authority at the address specified in the notice a payment of €100, or such other amount standing specified in regulations made by the Minister, accompanied by the notice, duly completed,

(c) the person is not obliged to make the payment, and

(d) a prosecution in respect of the alleged offence will not be instituted during the period specified in the notice under paragraph (b) and, if a payment specified in the notice is made during the period so specified, accompanied by the notice, duly completed, no prosecution in respect of the alleged offence will be instituted.

(2) Where a fixed payment notice is given under subsection (1)—

(a) the person to whom the notice applies may, during the period specified in the notice, make to the Authority at the address specified in the notice the payment specified in the notice, accompanied by the notice, duly completed,

(b) the Authority may receive the payment, issue a receipt for it and retain the money so paid, and any payment so received shall not be recoverable in any circumstances by the person who made it, and

(c) a prosecution in respect of the alleged offence to which the notice relates will not be instituted during the period specified in the notice, and, if the payment so specified is made during the period so specified, no prosecution in respect of the alleged offence will be instituted.

(3) In a prosecution for an offence referred to in subsection (1) the onus of proving that a payment pursuant to a fixed payment notice has been made lies on the defendant.

(4) In any proceedings in respect of an offence referred to in subsection (1) a document purporting to be a certificate or receipt of posting or delivery by or on behalf of An Post or another postal service is evidence of the posting or delivery of a fixed payment notice.

(5) Income generated by the payment of the fixed payment amount specified under subsection (1)(b) pursuant to a fixed payment notice shall be disposed of in a manner determined by the Authority with the agreement of the Minister and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

(6) In this section ‘prescribed’ means prescribed in bye-laws made by the Authority under section 56A.”.”.

This amendment inserts new sections 56A, B, C and D into the Dublin Transport Act 2008. This is to empower the National Transport Authority, NTA, to make by-laws in respect of public transport passenger services which will be tendered to commence operations in late 2016 or early 2017. In the event that incumbent operators do not win the tender it is necessary for the NTA to have powers to make by-laws in respect of public services to be provided by new operators. Coras Iompar Éireann, CIE, has statutory powers to make the equivalent by-laws to regulate the public transport passenger services provided by Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann.

The proposed new section 56A sets out the standard range of operational activities in respect of which the by-laws may be applied. Section 56B is to provide for the appointment by the NTA of authorised persons to ensure the users of the public transport services comply with the section 56A by-laws. The new section 56C sets out the powers of the authorised persons who have been appointed under section 56B, while the new section 56D is an enforcement measure to provide that authorised persons may serve fixed charge notices in respect of alleged offences and sets out the procedural aspects of the fixed charge processes.

Amendment No. 7 is to require that notification of the making of by-laws for Luas passenger services and copies of draft and final by-laws be published online. The proposed amendment will be inserted as section 5 into the Bill. This is in line with what is being proposed for the NTA in the Bill.

Amendment No. 11 is to expand the Long Title and consequential on the updating of the Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act 2001 in amendment No. 7.