OIL IN NAVIGABLE WATERS ACT, 1964

(1) If an oil to which this section applies is discharged from a ship registered in the Republic into a part of the sea which is a prohibited sea area, or if a mixture containing not less than one hundred parts of oil to which this section applies in a million parts of the mixture is discharged from a ship into a prohibited sea area, the owner or master of the ship, subject to this Act commits an offence. (2) This section applies to crude oil, fuel oil, heavy diesel oil and lubricating oil and to any other description of oil as prescribed by Regulations made by a legislative instrument by the Minister, (a) having regard to the provisions of a subsequent Convention in so far as it relates to the prevention of pollution of the sea by oil, or (b) having regard to the persistent character of oil of that description and the likelihood that it would cause pollution if discharged from a ship into a prohibited sea area. (3) The Regulations may make exceptions from the operation of subsection (1), absolutely or subject to prescribed conditions, and (a) generally or as respects particular classes of ships; (b) in relation to particular descriptions of oil or mixtures containing oil or to the discharge of oil or mixtures in prescribed circumstances; or (c) in relation to particular areas of the sea. (4) This section does not apply to the discharge from the bilges of a ship of an oily mixture which does not contain oil other than lubricating oil which has drained or leaked from machinery spaces. (5) In this section, “subsequent Convention” means a Convention subsequent to the Convention of 1954, which is a Convention accepted by the Government.

(1) For the purposes of this Act, the areas of the sea designated by or in accordance with this section are prohibited sea areas. (2) Subject to this section, the areas specified in the First Schedule are prohibited sea areas. (3) The Minister, considering that it is necessary to do so for the purposes of protecting the coast and territorial waters of the Republic from pollution by oil, may, by legislative instrument, designate an area of the sea, outside the territorial waters of the Republic and outside the areas specified in the First Schedule as a prohibited sea area. (4) For the purposes of giving effect to a variation of the prohibited zones referred to in the Convention of 1954, in accordance with that Convention or of a subsequent Convention, the Minister may, by legislative instrument, vary an area specified in the First Schedule, or declare that an area specified in that Schedule shall cease to be included in that Schedule or designate as a prohibited area an area of the sea, outside the territorial waters of the Republic, which apart from the instrument is not a prohibited sea area.