6.—(1) (a) F37[The Agency may appoint an officer or member of the staff of the Agency or of the Marine Institute] established by the Marine Institute Act, 1991, to be an authorised officer.

(b) F38[The Agency may] F39[…], appoint an officer of F40[Inland Fisheries Ireland], to be an authorised officer.

(c) F41[…]

(d) An authorised officer appointed under paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of this subsection shall, in the discharge of his functions under this section, have regard to such considerations of policy as F42[the Agency may] direct.

(e) Every member of the Garda Síochána shall be an authorised officer for the purposes of this Act.

F43[(f) Every member of the Permanent Defence Forces (not below the rank of leading seaman or corporal) for the time being serving on board any ship, vessel or aircraft belonging to or employed in the service of the State shall be an authorised officer for the purposes of this Act.]

(g) The F44[Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government] may appoint an officer of that Minister or of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland to be an authorised officer.

(h) A harbour authority may appoint an officer of the authority to be an authorised officer and an authorised officer appointed under this paragraph may exercise the powers under this Act of an authorised officer in, but only in, the harbour of the authority.

F45[(2) An authorised officer may at any reasonable time enter (if necessary by the use of reasonable force) any vehicle, place or premises, and board any vessel, aircraft or offshore installation and, while there and for the purposes of this Act may—

(a) carry out any inspection and examination which the officer reasonably considers necessary for those purposes,

(b) require the person in charge to either or both—

(i) be present during the inspection and examination and to furnish such information, and

(ii) procure the attendance of any other person who is within the power of the person in charge to procure,

as the officer may reasonably require for the purposes of this Act,

(c) require any employee present at that vehicle, place, premises, vessel, aircraft or installation to afford the officer such facilities within that employee’s power as the officer may require for the purposes of exercising functions under this Act,

(d) open or cause to be opened any container,

(e) examine (by the carrying out of tests or otherwise) and take samples of any material or substance,

(f) carry out, or have carried out, such tests, examinations, analyses, inspections and checks of—

(i) that vehicle, place, premises, vessel, aircraft or installation, or

(ii) any relevant thing at that vehicle, place, premises, vessel, aircraft or installation,

as the authorised officer reasonably considers being necessary for the purpose of exercising functions under this Act,

(g) require any person at, or the owner or other person in charge of, that vehicle, place, premises, vessel, aircraft or installation to give the authorised officer such assistance and information and to produce to that officer such documents or other records (and in the case of documents or records stored in non-legible form, produce to that officer a legible reproduction thereof) that are in that person’s power or control, as that officer may reasonably require for the purpose of exercising functions under this Act,

(h) inspect, examine and take copies of, or extracts from, any such document or other record and require the person by whom any such document is kept or who produced the document to certify a copy of that document or other record (including a copy in a legible form of a record kept in an non-legible form) as a true copy,

(i) except where—

(i) the document or other record concerned is required by law to be kept or maintained at the vehicle, place, premises, vessel, aircraft or installation concerned, and

(ii) (I) the officer has reasonable grounds for believing that the document or other record will be destroyed or tampered with if it is not retained by the officer, and

(II) it is not practicable in the circumstances to make a copy of that document or record,

retain any document or other record for such period as the officer reasonably considers is necessary for the purposes of exercising functions under this Act,

(j) take possession of any container, product, article or substance found at the vehicle, place, premises, vessel, aircraft or installation and retain it for such period as is necessary for any of the following purposes:

(i) to enable its examination;

(ii) to ensure that it is not tampered with before the examination is complete;

(iii) to ensure that it is available to be adduced as evidence in any proceedings,

(k) take photographs or make any record or visual recording of any relevant activity carried on at the vehicle, place, premises, vessel, aircraft or installation concerned, and

(l) monitor the effects of any dumping. ]

(3) For the purpose of entering a vehicle, place or premises or boarding a vessel, aircraft or offshore installation, an authorised officer may require the person in charge to do anything that will facilitate entry or boarding and the power conferred by this subsection includes power, in the case of a vehicle, vessel or installation, to require the person in charge to stop it.

(4) An authorised officer may, for the purposes of this Act, require the attendance of the master of a vessel, the pilot in command of an aircraft or the person in charge of an offshore installation and may, for the purposes aforesaid, make of such master, pilot or person any inquiry which appears to the officer to be necessary.

(5) Where an authorised officer reasonably suspects that, in relation to a vessel, aircraft or offshore installation, in the maritime area or in a harbour, airport or other place in the State, a contravention of this Act is taking, or has taken, place, he may detain the vessel, aircraft or offshore installation at any place in the maritime area or at any convenient harbour, airport or other place in the State until the happening of one of the following—

(a) in the case of dumping or loading, that is suspected to be in contravention of this Act, the production to the officer of a permit under this Act authorising the dumping or loading,

(b) the officer's becoming satisfied that a contravention of this Act has not taken place in relation to the vessel, aircraft or installation,

(c) the final determination of any court proceedings (including any appeal, re-trial or other proceedings) in respect of such a contravention as aforesaid and the payment of any fine imposed in the proceedings,

(d) the giving of security which, in the opinion of a judge of the District Court, is satisfactory for payment, in the event of a conviction of an offence in relation to the said contravention or in the event of a failure by a defendant in any proceedings in relation to such a contravention to attend before any court when such attendance is required for the purposes of the proceedings, of a sum that in the opinion of the judge is sufficient to provide for—

(i) payment of the maximum fine or fines ordered, or which may be ordered, to be paid in respect of the offence or offences, and

(ii) the estimated amount of the costs (if any) of any trials, appeals or other proceedings in relation to the offence or offences concerned awarded, or which may be awarded, against the defendant concerned,

or require the said vessel, aircraft or offshore installation to be removed from such maritime area, harbour, airport or other place.

(6) The security provided for in subsection (5) of this section is in addition to and not in substitution for any other bond or recognisance which the defendant concerned may be required to enter into by the judge of the District Court concerned in relation to any trials, appeals or other proceedings in relation to the offence or offences.

(7) Where an authorised officer has detained a vessel or offshore installation under this section—

(a) any authorised officer may, if the vessel or offshore installation, as the case may be, is not in a harbour, take it to the nearest or most convenient harbour or place in the maritime area, or

(b) any authorised officer may, if the vessel or offshore installation, as the case may be, is in a harbour detain it at that harbour or take it to a more convenient harbour or place in the maritime area,

and there detain it until the happening of one of the events described in paragraphs (a) to (d) of section 6 (5).

(8) Where an authorised officer has, in the exercise of the powers conferred on him by this section, detained a vessel, aircraft or offshore installation, any authorised officer who suspects that in relation to the vessel, aircraft or offshore installation, as the case may be, a contravention of this Act is taking or has taken place shall, as soon as may be, apply to a judge of the District Court for an order authorising the continued detention of all persons on board the vessel, aircraft or offshore installation, as the case may be, and the said judge may, if he is satisfied that the authorised officer applying for the order so suspects, make an order authorising the detention of those persons for a period of 48 hours from the time of the making of the order.

F46[(8A) (a) An authorised officer shall not enter so much of a vehicle, place, premises, vessel, aircraft or installation that consists of a dwelling, other than—

(i) with the consent of the occupier, or

(ii) in accordance with a warrant issued under paragraph (b).

(b) Upon the application of an authorised officer, a judge of the District Court, if satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that—

(i) a relevant thing is to be found in any dwelling, or is being or has been subjected to any process or stored in any dwelling, or

(ii) documents or other records referred to in subsection (2)(g) are being stored or kept in any dwelling,

may issue a warrant authorising a named authorised officer accompanied by such other authorised officers or persons with expertise relating to any relevant thing, as may be necessary, at any time or times within one month of the date of issue of the warrant, to enter the dwelling and perform any of the functions of an authorised officer under this section. ]

F47[(9) Any person who—

(a) obstructs or interferes with an authorised officer or a person with expertise relating to any relevant thing, in the course of performing a function conferred under this section or a warrant under subsection (8A),

(b) impedes the performance by the authorised officer or person with expertise, as the case may be, of such function or fails or refuses to comply with a request or requirement of, or to answer a question asked by, the officer, member, or person with expertise, as the case may be, pursuant to this paragraph, or

(c) in purported compliance with such request or requirement or in answer to such question gives information to the officer, member, or person with expertise, as the case may be, that that person knows to be false or misleading in any material respect,

commits an offence.

(9A) (a) Where an authorised officer, upon reasonable grounds, believes that a person has committed an offence under this Act, he or she may require that person to provide him or her with his or her name and the address at which he or she ordinarily resides.

(b) A person who, without reasonable excuse, does not comply with a requirement under paragraph (a) commits an offence.

(9B) A statement or admission made by a person pursuant to a requirement under subsection (2)(g) shall not be admissible as evidence in proceedings brought against that person for an offence (other than an offence under subsection (9)).

(9C) A person who falsely represents himself or herself to be an authorised officer commits an offence.

(9D) Nothing in this paragraph shall be taken to compel the production by any person of a document which that person would be exempt from producing in proceedings in a court on the ground of legal professional privilege.]

(10) A person who, immediately before the commencement of this section, was an authorised officer under the Dumping at Sea Act, 1981, shall be an authorised officer for the purposes of this Act.

(11) An authorised officer (other than a member of the Defence Forces or a member of the Garda Síochána) shall be furnished with a certificate of his appointment and, when performing any function under this section, the officer shall, if requested by any person affected, produce the certificate to that person.

(12) No action or other legal proceedings, whether civil or criminal, shall be instituted in any court in respect of the doing of anything authorised to be done by an authorised officer under this section, whether such thing is done personally by an authorised officer or by a person acting on the orders or instructions of an authorised officer.

F48[(13) In this section ‘other record’ includes, in addition to a document—

(a) a disc, tape, sound-track or other device, including an electronic device, in which information, sounds or signals are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other instrument) of being reproduced in legible or audible form,

(b) a film, tape, disc or other device, including an electronic device, in which visual images are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other instrument) of being reproduced in visual form,

(c) a photograph,

and any reference to a copy of a record includes—

(i) in the case of a record to which paragraph (a) applies, a transcript of the sounds or signals embodied in it,

(ii) in the case of a record to which paragraph (b) applies, a still reproduction of the images embodied in it, and

(iii) in the case of a record to which paragraphs (a) and (b) apply, such a transcript together with such a still reproduction.]