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29-712: An Coimisinéir Teanga ('The Language Commissioner') is an office created by the Official Languages Act 2003 in Ireland to promote and safeguard the respective language rights of Irish and English speakers in Ireland . The Coimisinéir is appointed by the President of Ireland . The Coimisinéir's job is mainly to "police" the articles of the Act, which gives legislative force to the Irish Constitution's definition of Irish as

58-494: A "Statutory Instrument" includes "an order, regulation, rule, bye-law, warrant, licence, certificate, direction, notice, guideline or other like document made, issued, granted or otherwise created by or under an Act [of the Oireachtas and certain pre-Irish constitution Acts]". The minister has made several Placename Orders. The Placenames (Ceantair Ghaeltachta) Order 2004 came into operation on 28 March 2005. This Placenames Order

87-586: A bilingual policy in respect of the two official national languages. The only state-area not to be covered by the Official Languages Act in the Republic of Ireland to date is road signage whose policy falls under the Department of Transport . The Official Languages Act 2003 does not cover the business or private sectors. On 30 October 2003, Part 5 of the Official Languages Act came into effect. Under Part 5,

116-511: A body other than the Oireachtas is unconstitutional; however, as there is a presumption in Irish constitutional law that the Oireachtas acts within the confines of the constitution, any legislation passed by the Oireachtas must be interpreted in such a way as to be constitutionally valid where possible. Thus, in several cases where bodies other than the Oireachtas were found to have used powers granted to them by primary legislation to make public policy,

145-541: A corporation's formation. Acts attempted by a corporation that are beyond the scope of its charter are void or voidable . Several modern developments relating to corporate formation have limited the probability that ultra vires acts will occur. Except in the case of non-profit corporations (including municipal corporations ), this legal doctrine is obsolescent ; within recent years, almost all business corporations have been chartered to allow them to transact any lawful business. The Model Business Corporation Act of

174-421: A failure to exercise an administrative discretion (e.g., acting at the behest of another or unlawfully applying a government policy) or application of discretionary powers in an irrational and wrong way. Either doctrine may entitle a claimant to various prerogative writs, equitable remedies or statutory orders if they are satisfied. In the seminal case of Anisminic v Foreign Compensation Commission , Lord Reid

203-521: A phased basis and as of early 2024 have not all been implemented yet. The successful implementation of the act forms part of the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010–2030 to have at least 250,000 daily speakers of Irish by 2030. Ultra vires Ultra vires ('beyond the powers') is a Latin phrase used in law to describe an act that requires legal authority but is done without it. Its opposite, an act done under proper authority,

232-503: Is intra vires ('within the powers'). Acts that are intra vires may equivalently be termed "valid", and those that are ultra vires termed "invalid". Legal issues relating to ultra vires can arise in a variety of contexts: In corporate law, ultra vires describes acts attempted by a corporation that are beyond the scope of powers granted by the corporation's objects clause , its articles of incorporation , its by-laws , similar founding documents, or laws authorizing

261-561: Is credited with formulating the doctrine of ultra vires . However, ultra vires , together with unreasonableness, was mentioned much earlier by Lord Russell in the well-known case, Kruse v Johnson , regarding challenging by-laws and other rules. Anisminic is better known for not depriving courts of their jurisdiction to declare a decision a nullity, even if a statute expressly prevents it from being subject to judicial review. Further cases such as Bromley LBC v Greater London Council and Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for

290-471: The Supreme Court of Ireland held that the Oireachtas may delegate certain powers to subordinate bodies through primary legislation, so long as these delegated powers allow the delegatee only to further the principles and policies laid down by the Oireachtas in primary legislation and not craft new principles or policies themselves. Any piece of primary legislation that grants the power to make public policy to

319-447: The Act the provision of services by the state in both the Irish and English languages should generally be the same. This means in practice that all state forms, some documents and major reports must be available in both languages and that Irish speakers should be able to do all of their business with the state through Irish if they so wish, subject to there being enough Irish speakers working in

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348-566: The Civil Service have sought to refine the doctrine. In Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council v Hazell , the House of Lords held that interest rate swaps entered into by local authorities (a popular method of circumventing statutory restrictions on local authorities borrowing money at that time) were all ultra vires and void , sparking a raft of satellite litigation . Mark Elliott ( St Catharine's College, Cambridge ) proposes

377-573: The Gaeltacht will operate through the medium of Irish. And that state companies will have to spend 20% of their advertising budgets on advertising through the Irish language with a quarter of that 20% at a minimum having to be spent on the Irish language media. And the act also complies State organisations to be obliged to spell Irish speakers names and addresses accurately with fadas for those Irish speakers who want to have their names and addresses spelt with fadas . These measures are being brought in on

406-545: The Irish or English-language versions of a placename. In many cases, it is also without prejudice to public use of a placename. However, where a Placenames Order is made in respect of placenames in the Gaeltacht, the English version of such placenames cannot be used in three instances: in future Acts of the Oireachtas ; in road or street signs erected by or on behalf of a local authority; and in statutory instruments . Under Irish law,

435-529: The Oireachtas must be published simultaneously with the publication of its English version. However, several complex acts have sections making themselves exempt from this provision. A 2011 amendment to the act exempts electronic publishing of acts from the provision - Official Languages Act 2003 (Section 9) Regulations 2008. In 2011 then Minister of State for the Gaeltacht Dinny McGinley TD announced at that year's Oireachtas na Gaeilge that he

464-550: The United States states that: "The validity of corporate action may not be challenged on the ground that the corporation lacks or lacked power to act." The doctrine still lives among non-profit corporations or state-created corporate bodies established for a specific public purpose, such as universities or charities. Historically all companies in the United Kingdom were subject to the doctrine of ultra vires and any act which

493-649: The concept of ultra vires can still arise in the following kinds of activities in some states: In many jurisdictions, such as Australia, legislation provides that a corporation has all the powers of a natural person plus others; also, the validity of acts which are made ultra vires is preserved. Under constitutional law , particularly in Canada and the United States , constitutions give federal and provincial or state governments various powers. To go outside those powers would be ultra vires ; for example, although

522-431: The country's "first official Language" and English as the "second official language". The Coimisinéir's office develops language plans for public bodies to ensure that they fulfill their responsibilities to speakers of both official languages. Private bodies are not officially included in the Act but it makes provisions for extending the Act's applicability in the future. Official Languages Act 2003 According to

551-574: The court did not use the term in striking down a federal law in United States v. Lopez because it exceeded the constitutional authority of Congress, the Supreme Court still declared the law to be ultra vires . According to Article 15.2 of the Irish constitution , the Oireachtas (parliament) is the sole lawmaking body in the Republic of Ireland . In the case of CityView Press v AnCo , however,

580-470: The doctrine concerning commercial companies. The position is now regulated by the Companies Act 2006 , sections 31 and 39, which similarly significantly reduces the applicability of ultra vires in corporate law. However, it can still apply to charities, and a shareholder may apply for an injunction , in advance only, to prevent an act which is claimed to be ultra vires . According to American laws,

609-464: The impugned primary legislation was read in such a way that it would not have the effect of allowing a subordinate body to make public policy. In these cases, the primary legislation was held to be constitutional. Still, the subordinate or secondary legislation, which amounted to creating public policy, was held to be ultra vires the primary legislation and was struck down. In UK constitutional law , ultra vires describes patents, ordinances, and

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638-559: The like enacted under the prerogative powers of the Crown that contradict statutes enacted by the Crown-in-Parliament . Almost unheard of in modern times, ultra vires acts by the Crown or its servants were previously a major threat to the rule of law . Boddington v British Transport Police is an example of an appeal heard by the House of Lords that contested that a by-law was beyond

667-466: The official status of the English name and to revert the official Irish name from An Daingean to Daingean Uí Chúis . The council action was ultra vires , so in 2011 the Local Government Act 2001 was amended to make the name changes in relation to Dingle and to allow similar plebiscites elsewhere. Section 7 of the 2003 act requires that an official Irish translation of each act of

696-506: The powers conferred to it under section 67 of the Transport Act 1962 . In administrative law , an act may be judicially reviewable for ultra vires in a narrow or broad sense. Narrow ultra vires applies if an administrator did not have the substantive power to make a decision or it was wrought with procedural defects. Broad ultra vires applies if there is an abuse of power (e.g., Wednesbury unreasonableness or bad faith) or

725-422: The public sector to provide the services. Also both the Irish language and English language should have equal status or prominence on most new state signage and stationery and there must be an Irish-language option on public sector customer phone lines and state-run websites. The Act also allowed for the introduction of bilingual automated speaker announcements on public transport and other less prominent instances of

754-597: The responsible minister (now the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media ), having received and considered advice from the Placenames Commission , may by ministerial order declare the Irish-language version of a placename specified in a Placenames Order. The principal legal effects of a Placename Order are one or other of the following: Any Placenames Order is without prejudice to private use of

783-507: Was in respect of placenames in the Gaeltacht and, therefore, one of its effects was to remove all legal force and effect from the English-language version of hundreds of placenames. As a result, today towns such as those formerly officially known as Belmullet and Spiddal are now, in law, known only as Béal an Mhuirthead and An Spidéal . In Dingle , County Kerry, a plebiscite organised by Kerry County Council voted to restore

812-629: Was launching a review of the Official Languages Act 2003. The process, much to the dismay of many Irish speakers, only finished in December 2021 when the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021 was signed into law. The biggest aim of the act is for a quota of 20% of public sectors jobs to be designated for Irish speakers by 2030 with a National Plan for the Provision of Public Services in Irish to be developed. The act further states that all public offices in

841-411: Was outside of the objects specified in a company's memorandum of association would be ultra vires and void . That result was commercially unpalatable. It led to companies being formed with extremely wide and generic objects clauses permitting a company to engage in all manner of commercial activities. The position was changed by statute by the Companies Act 1985 , which essentially abolished

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