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iTTE
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1996
ILT DIGEST
OF LEGISLATION AND REPORTED CASES
Compiled by DAVID BOYLE
ADMINISTRATIVE
Harbours Bill 1995
This Bill has been passed by DáiI
Éireann. (Cf. (1995) 13 ILT 176.)
Securitisation (Proceeds of Certain
Mortgages) Act 1995 (No. 30 of
1995)
This Act was signed by the President
on 30 November 1995. (Cf. (1995) 13
ILT 304.)
Commissioners of Public Works
(Functions and Powers) Bill 1995
This Bill, as presented by Senator
Maurice Manning and passed by the
Senate, aims to clarify the powers of
the Commissioners of Public Works
to provide humanitarian
relief
specifically to the victims of the
flooding which occurred in late
1994 and early 1995. The Bill also
aims to provide legal certainty for
certain general powers of the
Commissioners which have been
called into doubt.
AGRICULTURE
Bovine Diseases (Levies) (Amend-
ment) Bill 1995
This Bill, as presented by the
Minister for Agriculture, Food and
Forestry, aims to amend and extend
the Bovine Diseases (Levies) Act
1979 and to amend the penalties
relating to offences under ss. 48 and
49 of the Diseases of Animals Act
1966.
Milk (Regulation of Supply) (Amend-
ment) Act 1995 (No. 36 of 1995)
This Act amends para. 5 of the
Schedule to the Milk (Regulation of
Supply) Act 1994.
ANIMALS
Sheila Flannery v. Margo Forbes
Dean and Ors
High Court (Costello P)
[1995] 2 ILRM 393
Welfare - Plaintiff's horses not in good
condition - Horses in posession of
third parties - Horses removed by
defendants - No right to pass
posession or title to third parties -
Statutory measures available to take
animals to local authority pound -
Plaintiff entitled to return of her horses
COMMERCIAL
Industrial Development Act 1995
(No. 28 of 1995)
This Act was signed by the President
on 8 November 1995. (Cf. (1995) 13
ILT 201.)
COMPANY
Alba Radio Limited v. Haltone (Cork)
Limited
High Court (Barron J) [1995]
2 ILRM 466
Application for an order for the
examination of a director of a
company - No winding up order
made in respect of company and no
provisional liquidator appointed to
the company - Whether provisions of
Companies Act 1990 had retro-
spective effect - Companies Act 1963,
s. 245 - Companies Act 1990, s. 251
COMPETITION
Carna Foods and Or
v.
Eagle Star
Insurance Company (Ireland) Limited
High Court (McCracken j) [1995] 2
ILRM 474
Concerted practice - Dominant
position - Competition Act 1991, ss.
4, 5
CONSTITUTIONAL
T.F. v. Ireland\ the Attorney General
and M.F.
Supreme Court (Hamilton
CJ, O'Flaherty, Egan, Blayney and
Denham JJ) [19951 2 ILRM 321
Family - Marriage - Rights deriving
from the relationship of marriage -
Whether such rights are absolute -
Decree of judicial separation -
Whether granting decree on ground
that no normal marital relationship
had existed for period of one year
constituted too low a threshold and
thus an attack on institution of
marriage - Whether decree amounted
to an impediment to reconciliation -
Whether the grant of right of residence
in family home to one spouse
amounted to an unjust attack on other
spouse's
property
rights
Presumption of constitutionality -
Judicial Separation and Family Law
Reform Act 1989, ss. 2(1 )(f), 3, 16(a),
19 - Constitution of Ireland 1937,
Articles 40.3.2°, 41
R.J. v. Director of Central Mental
Hospital and Or
High Court (Costello
P) [1995] 2 ILRM 354
Criminal law - Detention -
Habeas
Corpus -
Patient in mental institution
charged with criminal offence -
District judge certified that there was
prima facie
evidence against the
patient and he was unfit to plead -
Transfer to Central Mental Hospital
ordered by minister - Whether the
transfer and continued detention of
patient in Central Mental Hospital was
lawful - Intolerable conditions of
detention
-
Whether
patient's
improved behaviour rendered detention
1