State Airports (Shannon Group) Act 2014

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Powers of authorised officers at airport

48. (1) An authorised officer, in the interest of the proper operation, or the security or safety, of an airport, or the security or safety of persons, aircraft or other property at an airport, may do all or any of the following things:

(a) stop a person at the airport;

(b) require a person at the airport to—

(i) give his or her name and address and to produce for inspection other evidence of his or her identity,

(ii) where he or she is driving or in control of a mechanically propelled vehicle (within the meaning of the Road Traffic Act 1961 ), produce his or her driving licence or learner permit (within the meaning of the Road Traffic Act 1961 ) for inspection,

(iii) state the purpose of his or her being at the airport, or

(iv) account for any baggage or other property which may be in his or her possession;

(c) require a person—

(i) who refuses to produce for inspection other evidence of his or her identity, or, if he or she is driving or in control of a mechanically propelled vehicle, to produce for inspection his or her driving licence or learner permit,

(ii) who refuses to state the purpose of his or her being at the airport,

(iii) who refuses to account for any baggage or other property in his or her possession,

(iv) who gives a name or address or states a purpose of his or her being at the airport which is known, or is reasonably suspected, by the authorised officer to be false or fictitious, or

(v) whom he or she knows not to have, or whom he or she reasonably suspects of not having, a lawful reason for being at the airport,

to leave the airport, or any part of it, or he or she may remove (using reasonable force) such person from the airport, or any part of it, or he or she may arrest that person without warrant;

(d) arrest without warrant a person—

(i) who assaults, or whom he or she reasonably suspects to have assaulted, another person at an airport,

(ii) who commits, or whom he or she knows to have, or whom he or she reasonably suspects of having committed an offence under—

(I) section 2A (inserted by section 65 of the Act of 1998) of the Air Navigation and Transport Act 1973 ,

(II) section 29 (in relation to a contravention of section 19), 41 or 43 of the Air Navigation and Transport Act 1988 ,

(III) section 47, 48, 49, 50 or 51 of the Act of 1998, or

(IV) section 44 of this Act,

(iii) who commits or whom he or she reasonably suspects to have committed an offence under section 15(9) of the Act of 2004 in respect of a contravention of bye-laws made under subsection (3)(a), (c), (d), (e) or (g) of that section insofar as the alleged offence relates to the safety or security of the airport, airside operations or aircraft or persons using the airport, or

(iv) whom he or she knows to have, or reasonably suspects of having, a stolen article in his or her possession.

(2) Where an authorised officer, who is not a member of the Garda Síochána, arrests a person under this section, he or she shall, as soon as is practicable, deliver the person into the custody of a member of the Garda Síochána to be dealt with in accordance with law.

(3) Where a person is arrested under this section the person shall be taken by the member to a Garda Síochána station and may be detained there or arrested and detained there in accordance with section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 and, accordingly, the reference in subsection (2) (inserted by section 9 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 ) of that section to “an offence to which this section applies” is to be read as including a reference to an offence referred to in subsection (1) .

(4) Where an authorised officer has reasonable grounds for believing that there is evidence on a person or in a vehicle of an offence committed under the Airports and Aviation Acts 1936 to 2014 or that a stolen article is in the possession of a person or is in a vehicle, the officer may without warrant—

(a) search or cause to be searched the person and, if the officer considers it necessary, detain the person for such time as is reasonably necessary to carry out the search,

(b) search or cause to be searched the vehicle and for the purpose of carrying out the search, if the officer thinks fit, require the person in control of the vehicle to bring it to a stop and when stopped to refrain from moving it or, where the vehicle is already stationary, to refrain from moving it, or

(c) seize and retain or cause to be seized and retained anything found in the course of a search under this subsection which any such officer reasonably suspects to be something which might be required as evidence in proceedings for such an offence or to be a stolen article.

(5) Where an authorised officer decides to search or cause to be searched a person under subsection (4) , the officer may require the person to accompany that officer to a place for the purpose of being so searched.

(6) An authorised officer may stop a vehicle at an airport and may require it to be moved for inspection to such place as he or she directs.

(7) Where an authorised officer arrests a person pursuant to the powers conferred on him or her by subsection (1)(d)(iv), he or she may retain in his or her possession any article which he or she knows to have been, or reasonably suspects of having been, stolen until it has been established whether or not the article was stolen.

(8) A person who was required by an authorised officer to leave an airport or part of an airport, or who was removed from an airport or part of an airport by an authorised officer, shall not, on the same day, without the permission of an authorised officer, return to the airport or the part of the airport which he or she was ordered to leave, or from which he or she was removed, as the case may be.

(9) Any person who obstructs, impedes or assaults an authorised officer in the exercise of any of the powers conferred on him or her by this section, or who fails to comply with any lawful requirement of an authorised officer under this section, commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction—

(a) in case the officer is obstructed or impeded, to a class C fine, or

(b) in case the officer is assaulted, to a class A fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to both.

(10) A person appointed as an authorised officer under section 48 of the Act of 1998 may be appointed as an authorised officer generally for the purposes of the Airports and Aviation Acts 1936 to 2014 or for specified purposes.

(11) Sections 33 , 42 and 48 of the Air Navigation and Transport Act 1988 are repealed.