International Protection Act 2015

F15[Return of person subject of return order

51B

51B.     (1) An immigration officer or a member of the Garda Síochána may, for the purpose of facilitating the return of a person the subject of a return order, by notice in writing require the person to comply with one or more of the following conditions:

(a) that he or she present himself or herself to such immigration officer or member of the Garda Síochána at such date, time and place as may be specified in the notice;

(b) where, and only for so long as, it is reasonably necessary to facilitate his or her return, that he or she surrender his or her passport and any other travel document that he or she holds;

(c) that he or she co-operate in any way necessary to enable an immigration officer or a member of the Garda Síochána to obtain a passport or other travel document, travel ticket or other document required for the purpose of such return;

(d) that he or she reside or remain in a particular place in the State pending his or her return.

(2) A notice under subsection (1) shall be in a language that the person concerned may reasonably be supposed to understand.

(3) A person the subject of a return order shall comply with a requirement under subsection (1).

(4) Where an immigration officer or a member of the Garda Síochána considers that there is a significant risk of a person the subject of a return order absconding, the officer or member ("arresting officer or member") may, for the purpose of facilitating the return of the person, arrest the person without warrant and a person so arrested may be taken by an immigration officer or a member of the Garda Síochána to a prescribed place (in this section referred to as a "place of detention") and detained

(a) in the place of detention under warrant of the arresting officer or member and in the custody of the officer of the Minister or member of the Garda Síochána for the time being in charge of the place, and

(b) for a period not exceeding 7 days.

(5) For the purpose of arresting a person under subsection (4), an immigration officer or member of the Garda Síochána may enter (if necessary by use of reasonable force) and search any premises (including a dwelling) where the person is or where the immigration officer or member, with reasonable cause, suspects the person to be and, where the premises is a dwelling, the immigration officer or member shall not, unless acting with the consent of an occupier of the dwelling or other person who appears to the immigration officer or member to be in charge of the dwelling, enter that dwelling unless

(a) the person ordinarily resides at the dwelling, or

(b) he or she believes on reasonable grounds that the person is within the dwelling.

(6) The matters to which an officer or member referred to in subsection (4) may have regard, in considering for the purposes of that subsection whether there is a significant risk of a person the subject of a return order absconding, include the following:

(a) whether the person, in the purported discharge of his or her duty to establish his or her identity, has misrepresented or omitted facts, whether or not by the use of false documents;

(b) whether the person has failed to comply with a requirement under subsection (1);

(c) whether the person, having been informed of arrangements for his or her return, has failed to co-operate with those arrangements;

(d) whether the person has explicitly expressed an intention not to comply with arrangements for his or her return;

(e) whether the person has previously failed to comply with the law of the State, or of another state, relating to the entry or presence of foreign nationals in the State or, as the case may be, that state.

(7) Subject to subsection (8), subsections (4) and (5) shall not apply to a person the subject of a return order who is under the age of 18 years.

(8) If and for so long as an immigration officer or member of the Garda Síochána concerned has reasonable grounds for believing that the person the subject of a return order is not under the age of 18 years, the provisions of subsections (4) and (5) shall apply as if the person had attained the age of 18 years.

(9) The Minister may, in order to facilitate the return of a person the subject of a return order, issue to the person a laissez-passer or such other travel document as the Minister considers appropriate.

(10) An immigration officer or member of the Garda Síochána may, for the purpose of the return, detain a person the subject of a return order in accordance with subsection (11) and place him or her on a vehicle that is about to leave the State and the person shall be deemed to be in lawful custody while so detained and until the vehicle leaves the State.

(11) A person who is detained under subsection (10) may, for the purposes of that subsection, be detained

(a) for a period not exceeding 7 days, in a place of detention,

(b) for a period or periods each not exceeding 12 hours, in a vehicle, for the purpose of bringing the person to the port from which the vehicle referred to in subsection (10) is due to leave the State, or

(c) for a period or periods each not exceeding 12 hours, within the port referred to in paragraph (b).

(12) The master or person in charge of a vehicle that is about to leave the State shall, if so directed by an immigration officer or member of the Garda Síochána, receive a person the subject of a return order on board the vehicle and afford the person so received proper accommodation and maintenance during the journey concerned.

(13) A reference in this section and section 51C to the return of a person is a reference to his or her return in accordance with section 51A(2).]

Annotations:

Amendments:

F15

Inserted (31.12.2020 at 11.00 p.m.) by Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Act 2020 (23/2020), s. 121, S.I. No. 693 of 2020, subject to transitional provision in s. 116.

Editorial Notes:

E30

Power pursuant to subs. (4) exercised (1.01.2021) by International Protection Act 2015 (Section 51B) (Places of Detention) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 727 of 2020), in effect as per reg. 1(2).