Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Subsections (1) and (2) are standard provisions regarding the Short Title of the Bill and the collective citation as part of the Merchant Shipping Acts dating from 1894.

I propose an amendment to section 1(2) which deals with the collective citation of the Merchant Shipping Acts. The amendment is necessary following the enactment of the Local Government Reform Act 2014. That Act includes amendments to the Merchant Shipping (Salvage and Wreck) Act 1993 and provides for an updated collective citation of the Merchant Shipping Acts 1894 to 2014 at section 1(15) of the Act.

On the basis that the current Bill will be enacted during 2014, the proposed amendment to section 1(2) of the Bill provides for the inclusion of the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Ships) Bill in the collective citation of the Merchant Shipping Acts 1894 to 2014.

Amendments Nos. 2 and 3 in section 2 are standard provisions that set out the way in which the Bill and the terms used in it are to be interpreted. Similar to the amendment to section 1 of the Bill, arising from the enactment of the Local Government Reform Act 2014, a revision of the definitions of “Merchant Shipping Acts” and “Sea Pollution Acts” in section 2 of the Bill is also required. The Local Government Reform Act 2014 provided at section 1(15) for an updated collective citation of the Merchant Shipping Acts 1894 to 2014.

Amendment No. 2 will update the definition of Merchant Shipping Acts in the Bill to reflect the updated collective citation. The 2014 Act also included amendments to the Sea Pollution (Amendment) Act 1999 and the Sea Pollution (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006 and provided at section 1(20) for an updated citation of the Sea Pollution Acts 1991 to 2014. Amendment No. 3 updates the definition of Sea Pollution Acts in the Bill to reflect the change in the Local Government Reform Act 2014. These are technical amendments to ensure the references in this Bill marry with changes to other legislation in recent times.