No. 38/1946:

MINISTERS AND SECRETARIES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1946

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

1 Definitions.

2 The Department of Health.

3 The Department of Social Welfare.

4 Assignments of Departments of State to members of the Government and termination of such assignments.

5 Repeals.

6 Short title, construction and citation.

SCHEDULE

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND A DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE, AND FOR THAT AND OTHER PURPOSES TO AMEND THE MINISTERS AND SECRETARIES ACTS, 1924 TO 1939.

[24th December, 1946.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

1.—In this Act—

the expression "the Act of 1925" means the Documentary Evidence Act, 1925 (No. 24 of 1925),

the expression "the Amending Act of 1939" means the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 1939 (No. 36 of 1939);

the expression "the Principal Act" means the Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924 (No. 16 of 1924).

2.—(1) The Government may by order appoint a day to be the appointed day for the purposes of this section, and in this section the expression "the appointed day" means the day so appointed.

(2) On the appointed day a Department of State to be styled and known as An Roinn Sláinte or (in English) the Department of Health shall stand established.

(3) The Minister who has charge of the Department of Health shall be styled An tAire Sláinte or (in English) the Minister for Health.

(4) The following enactments, that is to say, the Ministers and Secretaries Acts, 1924 to 1939, and the Act of 1925, shall apply to the Department of Health and the Minister having charge thereof as if that Department had been established by section 1 of the Principal Act.

(5) For the purposes of subsection (1) of section 6 of the Amending Act of 1939, the Department of Health and the office of Minister for Health shall be deemed to have been established immediately upon the passing of this Act, but any order which is made, in relation to that Department or that Minister, under the said subsection (1) before the appointed day, shall not be expressed to come into operation on a date earlier than the appointed day.

3.—(1) The Government may by order appoint a day to be the appointed day for the purposes of this section, and in this section the expression "the appointed day" means the day so appointed.

(2) On the appointed day a Department of State to be styled and known as An Roinn Leasa Shóisialaigh or (in English) the Department of Social Welfare shall stand established.

(3) The Minister who has charge of the Department of Social Welfare shall be styled An tAire Leasa Shóisialaigh or (in English) the Minister for Social Welfare.

(4) The following enactments, that is to say, the Ministers and Secretaries Acts, 1924 to 1939, and the Act of 1925, shall apply to the Department of Social Welfare and the Minister having charge thereof as if that Department had been established by section 1 of the Principal Act.

(5) For the purposes of subsection (1) of section 6 of the Amending Act of 1939, the Department of Social Welfare and the office of Minister for Social Welfare shall be deemed to have been established immediately upon the passing of this Act, but any order which is made, in relation to that Department or that Minister, under the said subsection (1) before the appointed day, shall not be expressed to come into operation on a date earlier than the appointed day.

4.—(1) The Taoiseach may from time to time assign a particular Department of State to a member of the Government and may assign more than one Department of State to the same person.

(2) The Taoiseach may at any time terminate the assignment of a particular Department of State to the member of the Government to whom that Department of State is then assigned.

5.—The enactments set out in the second column of the Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of the said Schedule.

6.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 1946 .

(2) This Act shall be construed as one with the Ministers and Secretaries Acts, 1924 to 1939, and this Act and those Acts may be cited together as the Ministers and Secretaries Acts, 1924 to 1946.

Section 5

SCHEDULE

ENACTMENTS REPEALED.