Planning and Development Act 2024
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Offences in relation to certificate | ||
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255. (1) A person who, knowingly or recklessly— | ||
(a) makes a statutory declaration under subsection (5) of section 254 , or | ||
(b) provides a planning authority with information or documentation in purported compliance with a requirement under subsection (6) of section 254 , | ||
that is false or misleading in a material respect, or who believes any such statutory declaration made by him or her, or information or documentation provided by him or her in purported compliance with such requirement, not to be true, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable— | ||
(i) on summary conviction to a class A fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or both, or | ||
(ii) on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €635,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, or both. | ||
(2) A person who— | ||
(a) forges or utters, knowing it to be forged, a certificate purporting to have been granted under section 254 (in this section referred to as a “forged certificate”), | ||
(b) alters with intent to deceive or defraud, or utters, knowing it to be so altered, a certificate (in this section referred to as an “altered certificate”), or | ||
(c) without lawful authority or other reasonable excuse, has in his or her possession a forged certificate or an altered certificate, | ||
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable— | ||
(i) on summary conviction to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or both, or | ||
(ii) on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €635,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, or both. | ||
(3) Where a person is convicted on indictment of an offence under this section, the court may, in addition to any fine or term of imprisonment imposed by the court, order the payment into court by the person of an amount that, in the opinion of the court, is equal to the amount of any gain accruing to that person by reason of the grant of a certificate on foot of the statutory declaration, information or documentation, as the case may be, to which the offence relates, and such sum shall, when paid in accordance with such order, stand forfeited. | ||
(4) All sums that stand forfeited under subsection (3) shall be paid to the planning authority named in, or uttered to have granted, the purported certificate concerned and shall be accounted for in the account referred to in subsection (6) of section 252 and be applied only for the purposes specified in that subsection. | ||
(5) Where a person is convicted of an offence under this section, the court may revoke a certificate granted on foot of a statutory declaration, information or documentation to which the offence relates, upon application being made to it in that behalf by the planning authority that granted the certificate. |