4. —(1) A member of the Garda Síochána or Defence Forces may arrest without warrant anyone whom the member, with reasonable cause, suspects to be guilty of an offence under section 2 .

(2) Where a member of the Garda Síochána or Defence Forces suspects, with reasonable cause, that a person who is about to board, or is on board, a ship or fixed platform intends to commit an offence under section 2 on or in relation to that ship or fixed platform, the member may—

(a) prevent the person from boarding the ship or fixed platform or from travelling on board the ship,

(b) without warrant board the ship or fixed platform and remove the person from it, or

(c) without warrant arrest the person.

(3) The master of a ship or a person for the time being in charge of a fixed platform may arrest and detain any person whom he or she, with reasonable cause, believes to be guilty of an offence under section 2 .

(4) Such a person may be so detained only until he or she can be delivered to—

(a) a member of the Garda Síochána or Defence Forces, or

(b) the appropriate authorities of a Convention state.

(5) A person arrested by or delivered to a member of the Defence Forces under this section shall be delivered by him or her to a member of the Garda Síochána as soon as practicable and shall thereupon be treated as a person arrested without warrant by a member of the Garda Síochána unless the person is brought as soon as practicable after such delivery before a judge of the High Court under the Extradition Acts 1965 to 2001 or the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003.

(6) In accordance with Article 7.1 of the Convention a judge of a court before whom such a person is brought shall, in considering any application for bail, take into account the need to ensure the person's presence in the State for such time as is necessary to enable any proceedings against the person to be instituted, including proceedings under any of the enactments referred to in subsection (5).

(7) In considering a request for the surrender of such a person to a Convention state the High Court shall, in accordance with Article 11.6 of the Convention, pay due regard to whether the person's rights as set out in Article 7.3 thereof can be given effect to in that state.

(8) References in this section to Articles 7.1, 7.3 and 11.6 of the Convention are to be construed, as appropriate, as references to those provisions as applied by Article 1 of the Protocol.

(9) A master of a ship or person for the time being in charge of a fixed platform is not liable to—

(a) conviction in any criminal prosecution, or

(b) damages in any civil proceeding,

brought in respect of any action reasonably taken by either of them under this Act against any other person.