Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1995
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Entry into, and search of, premises where offence under section 15 is suspected. |
16.—(1) Each of the following, namely the Electricity Supply Board and Bord Gáis Éireann, may appoint such and so many of its employees as it considers appropriate to be authorised officers for the purposes of this section. | |
(2) A person appointed under subsection (1) shall, on his or her appointment, be furnished by the Electricity Supply Board or Bord Gáis Éireann, as the case may be, with a certificate of his or her appointment and when exercising a power conferred by this section shall, if requested by any person thereby affected, produce such certificate to that person for inspection. | ||
(3) Subject to subsection (4), an authorised officer who suspects with reasonable cause that an offence under subsection (2), (3), (5) or (6) of section 15 has been or is being committed on or in any land, premises or vehicle (being an offence that concerns the body referred to in subsection (1) which appointed the particular authorised officer) may— | ||
(a) enter the land or premises or, as the case may be, halt (if necessary) and board the vehicle and require the driver (if any) of the vehicle to take it to a place designated by the authorised officer (and such a vehicle may be detained at that place by the authorised officer for such period as he or she may consider necessary for the purposes of this subsection), | ||
(b) search the land, premises or vehicle and seize any thing he or she finds thereon or therein (being a thing referred to in subsection (5) of section 15 or which is evidence of, or evidence related to, the commission of an offence under that subsection or subsection (2), (3) or (6) of the said section, as the case may be). | ||
(4) The powers of an authorised officer under subsection (3) may only be exercised in respect of a dwelling or so much of a vehicle or premises as constitutes a dwelling where the authorised officer has reasonable cause to suspect that, before a warrant could be sought in relation to the dwelling under subsection (5), any thing referred to in subsection (3) (b)— | ||
(a) is being destroyed, disposed of or removed from the premises or vehicle, or | ||
(b) is likely to be destroyed, disposed of or removed from the premises or vehicle. | ||
(5) (a) Where an authorised officer in the exercise of his or her powers under this section is prevented from entering any land or premises or if an authorised officer has reason to believe that evidence of or related to a suspected offence under subsection (2), (3), (5) or (6) of section 15 may be present on or in any land or premises and that the evidence may be removed therefrom or destroyed or disposed of, the authorised officer or the body by whom he or she was appointed may apply to a judge of the District Court for a warrant under this subsection authorising the entry by the authorised officer onto or into the land or premises. | ||
(b) If on application being made to him or her under this subsection, a judge of the District Court is satisfied, on the sworn information of the applicant, that the authorised officer concerned has been prevented from entering land or premises as aforesaid or that the authorised officer has reasonable grounds for believing the other matters aforesaid, the judge may issue a warrant under his or her hand authorising that officer, accompanied, if the judge deems it appropriate so to provide, by such number of members of the Garda Síochána as may be specified in the warrant, at any time or times within 1 month from the date of the issue of the warrant, on production if so requested of the warrant, to enter, if need be by force, the land or premises concerned and exercise the powers referred to in subsection (3) (b). | ||
(c) In this subsection “premises” includes so much of a vehicle as constitutes a dwelling. | ||
(6) A person who— | ||
(a) refuses to allow an authorised officer to enter any land or premises or board any vehicle in the exercise of his or her powers under this section, or | ||
(b) obstructs or impedes an authorised officer in the exercise of his or her powers under this section, | ||
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable— | ||
(i) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both, | ||
(ii) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both. | ||
(7) Subsection (10) of section 15 shall apply to an offence under subsection (6) as it applies to an offence under the said section. | ||
(8) (a) The powers conferred by the preceding provisions of this section are not in substitution for any other powers standing conferred on an officer or employee of a body referred to in subsection (1), a member of the Garda Síochána or any other person by virtue of section 108 of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1927 , or any other enactment in force immediately before the passing of this Act, or of any rule of law. | ||
(b) A person who enters any premises pursuant to subsection (2) of section 108 of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1927 , shall have the same power to seize anything referred to in subsection (3) (b) which he or she finds on the premises in the course of exercising any power conferred on him or her by the said section 108 as an authorised officer has under the said subsection (3). | ||
(9) (a) Any thing seized by an authorised officer under subsection (3) or by a person under subsection (8) (b) may, subject to the provisions of this subsection, be detained by that officer or the person by whom he or she is employed and either destroyed or disposed of in such manner as he or she thinks appropriate. | ||
(b) A thing detained as aforesaid shall not be destroyed or disposed of under this subsection— | ||
(i) in case an application is made under paragraph (c) in relation to the thing, save under and in accordance with an order of a judge of the District Court under that paragraph. | ||
(ii) in case no such application is made or such an application is made but is withdrawn, before the expiration of 3 months from the date on which the thing was seized. | ||
(c) A person who claims an interest in a thing referred to in paragraph (a) may, not later than 3 months after the date on which the thing was seized, apply to a judge of the District Court for the District Court district in which the seizure was effected for an order directing the return to that person of the thing or, as the case may be, enabling that person to exercise the rights in or over the thing which he or she was entitled to exercise immediately before the seizure and the said judge of the District Court shall, on the hearing of the application— | ||
(i) determine whether the thing is, in fact, a thing referred to in subsection (5) of section 15 or, as the case may be, a thing which is evidence of, or evidence related to, the commission of an offence under that subsection or subsection (2), (3) or (6) of the said section, and | ||
(ii) having regard to that determination and any other relevant matters, make such order in relation to the application as he or she considers just and equitable. | ||
(d) A judge of the District Court may adjourn the hearing of an application made to him or her under paragraph (c) until after the conclusion of any proceedings being brought for an offence under section 15 in relation to the matter concerned. | ||
(10) In this section “Bord Gáis Éireann” and “Electricity Supply Board” have the same meaning as they have in section 15 . |