60.— (1) A member of the Garda Síochána may seize a driving licence or learner permit or a document which purports to be a driving licence or learner permit produced to him or her under section 40 of the Principal Act or section 61 of this Act, where the member has reasonable grounds for believing that—

(a) the holder of the licence or permit has been disqualified for holding a driving licence, or

(b) the driving licence or permit has been fraudulently obtained, is forged or altered or purports to be, but is not, a driving licence or permit.

F96[(1A) Notwithstanding subsection (1) a member of the Garda Síochána may, in the case of a licence referred to in paragraph (d) of the definition of driving licence in subsection (6A), seize, under this section, only the document referred to in subparagraph (i) of that paragraph.]

(2) A member of the Garda Síochána who has seized a licence or permit under subsection (1) may make a copy of it and—

(a) in the case of an Irish driving licence or learner permit, return it to the licensing authority F97[…],

(b) in the case of a foreign licence F96[referred to in paragraph (b) or (c) of the definition of driving licence in subsection (6A)], give or send it—

(i) where the holder of the licence is resident in the State, to the licensing authority F97[…], or

(ii) in any other case, to the issuing authority where the licence is seized or, if the member considers it appropriate, to F98[the] licensing authority at the request of the holder,

F96[(ba) in the case of a foreign licence referred to in paragraph (d) of the definition of driving licence in subsection (6A), give or send only the document referred to in subparagraph (i) of that paragraph, to the licensing authority.]

(c) where the licence or permit is as referred to in subsection (1)(b), upon the conclusion of any proceedings have it destroyed.

(3) Where a driving licence or learner permit has been seized from a person under subsection (1), the person, as the case may be, shall not continue to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle or accompany the holder of a learner permit while such holder is driving a mechanically propelled vehicle, in a public place.

(4) A person who contravenes subsection (3) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

(5) A member of the Garda Síochána may arrest without warrant a person who in the member’s opinion is committing or has committed an offence under subsection (4).

(6) A member of the Garda Síochána to whom is produced or who seizes under this section a foreign driving licence which is in a language other than English or Irish may detain the licence for such reasonable period required—

(a) to have its contents translated into English or Irish, and

(b) if the member requires it, to have its validity confirmed.

F96[(6A) In this section—

"driving licence", notwithstanding the definition of driving licence in section 3 of the Principal Act, means—

(a) an Irish driving licence,

(b) a licence or permit to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle in respect of a category of vehicle referred to in the European Communities (Recognition of Driving Licences of Other Member States) Regulations 2008 issued by the competent authority of another Member State or a member state of the European Economic Area, but does not include a licence or permit so issued to a person to enable the person to learn to drive or provisionally to drive a vehicle,

(c) a licence or permit to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle in respect of a category of vehicle recognised by an order made under section 23A(1) of the Principal Act, or

(d) both—

(i) a licence or permit to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle in respect of a category of vehicle recognised by an order made under section 23B(1) of the Principal Act, and

(ii) the permission to reside given to a relevant person who holds a licence or permit referred to in subparagraph (i);

"licensing authority" has the meaning given to it by section 21 of the Principal Act;

"permission to reside" means a permission under section 60(6) of the International Protection Act 2015, which permission is valid;

"relevant person" means a person who has been given a permission to reside.]

(7) F99[Section 41(1)] (as amended by section 19 of the Act of 2006) of the Act of 1994 is amended by substituting for paragraph (a) the following:

“(a) the person driving the vehicle—

(i) refuses or fails to produce there and then a driving licence or learner permit then having effect and licensing him or her to drive the vehicle, when production of such a licence is demanded of him or her by a member of the Garda Síochána under section 40 of the Principal Act or section 61 of the Road Traffic Act 2010 and the member is of opinion that the person is by reason of his or her age ineligible to hold a driving licence or learner permit licensing him or her to drive the vehicle,

(ii) has had a driving licence or learner permit seized from him or her under section 60 of the Road Traffic Act 2010, or

(iii) is, in the opinion of a member of the Garda Síochána, disqualified for holding a driving licence or learner permit,”.