Harbours Act, 1996
|
Appointment of harbour police, functions of harbour police, etc. |
54.—(1) Each of the following companies, namely, Dublin Port Company and Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company shall appoint the members of its staff referred to in subsection (2) and may, if it thinks fit, appoint such other members of its staff as it determines, to police its harbour and exercise the powers referred to in subsection (3) and references in this section to a company's harbour police shall be construed as references to persons appointed by the company under this subsection. | |
(2) The members of staff mentioned in subsection (1) are persons who on the relevant vesting day are transferred under section 38 to Dublin Port Company or Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company, as the case may be, and who immediately before the said day were employed as constables under any enactment by the Dublin Port and Docks Board or the Minister for the Marine in the case of Dún Laoghaire Harbour. | ||
(3) (a) Subject to paragraph (b), a member of a company's harbour police may, within the company's harbour, arrest without warrant a person who the member reasonably suspects has committed or is committing an offence under this Act specified in section 6 (1). | ||
(b) A member of a company's harbour police shall not be entitled to exercise the power referred to in paragraph (a) unless he or she has received (whether before or after the commencement of this section) training and instruction which, in the opinion of the company concerned, after consultation with the Minister, is such as will provide guidance to him or her in the exercise of the said power. | ||
(c) A company concerned shall endorse on the warrant it furnishes to a member of its harbour police under subsection (4) a statement to the effect that the member has received the training and instruction referred to in paragraph (b). | ||
(d) Where a member of a company's harbour police arrests a person under paragraph (a) he or she shall, forthwith, deliver the person into the custody of a member of the Garda Síochána to be dealt with according to law. | ||
(e) The arrest of a person under paragraph (a) shall not prejudice the re-arrest under statute or otherwise of that person by a member of the Garda Síochána, an officer of Customs and Excise or any other person. | ||
(f) A member of a company's harbour police may accompany the harbour master of the company's harbour in the entry by him or her (or a person authorised by him or her under section 37 (1) (b) to make such an entry) into a ship under section 14 (5) or 49 (1). | ||
(g) A person who obstructs or impedes a member of a company's harbour police in making an arrest under paragraph (a) or while such a member is accompanying a harbour master or another person under paragraph (f) shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(4) A person who is appointed by a company as a member of its harbour police shall, on his or her appointment, be furnished by the company with a warrant of his or her appointment as such a member. | ||
(5) The appointment of a person as a member of a company's harbour police may be revoked at any time by the company if it appears to it that the person has been guilty of any misconduct or neglect of duty. |