Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

Section 25 replaces section 5 of the Fire Services Act 1981 with a new section 5, which updates the penalty provisions of the 1981 Act and brings them into line with current practice. Indexation will then take over. It also removes the complicated procedures for dealing with offences under sections 18(2), 20 and 37 as set out in the old section 5(3) of the Fire Services Act 1981. This procedure, which involved the DPP and the defendant's right to trial by jury and the Criminal Procedure Act 1967, was a complex and lengthy process and hindered the effective enforcement of the penalty provisions of the Act.

The proposed amendment will make provision for the inclusion of a new section 20A, which is inserted in the Fire Services Act 1981 by section 30 of the Bill. That is the closure notice in section 5 of the Fire Services Act which deals with the penalty provisions of that Act. This amendment is required to provide that an offence under the new section 20A, closure notice of the Fire Services Act 1981, may be prosecuted either as a summary or as an indictable offence. Under the amendment the new section 20A is included with the other sections of the Fire Services Act, namely, sections 18(2) and 20 and regulations made under section 37, which may be prosecuted as either summary or indictable offences.

The amendment aims to include the new section 20A in the Fire Services Act 1981. This new provision ensures that non-compliance with the closure notice may be prosecuted as a summary or indictable offence. This amendment will strengthen the 1981 Act by including these sections.

Amendment agreed to.

Amendments Nos. 8 and 9 not moved.

Section 25, as amended, agreed to.