24.— (1) The Chief Bureau Officer may assign one or more members of staff to be compliance officers for the purposes of this Act.

(2) A person assigned to be a compliance officer under this section shall be furnished with a warrant of appointment and when performing a function conferred under this section shall, if requested to do so by any person thereby affected, produce such warrant or a copy of it to that person for inspection.

(3) A compliance officer may—

(a) enter and inspect at all reasonable times any premises which he or she has reasonable grounds for believing are being occupied by a relevant organisation,

(b) at such premises, inspect and take copies of any books, records, other documents (including documents stored in non-legible form) or extracts therefrom relating to vetting procedures under this Act, which he or she finds in the course of his or her inspection,

(c) remove any such books, records or documents from such place and detain them for such period as he or she reasonably considers to be necessary for the purposes of this Act,

(d) require any person at the premises concerned, including the liaison person or person in charge of that place or premises to give him or her such information and assistance as the compliance officer may reasonably require for the purposes of his or her functions under this Act,

(e) require any person at the premises concerned including the liaison person, the owner or person in charge of that place or premises to produce to him or her such books, documents or other records (and in the case of documents or records stored in non-legible form, produce to him or her a legible reproduction thereof) that are in that person’s possession or procurement or under that person’s control, as the compliance officer may reasonably require for the purposes of his or her functions under the Act, and

(f) examine with regard to any matter under this Act any person whom the compliance officer has reasonable grounds for believing to be a liaison person or to be employed by the relevant organisation or to be the owner or person in charge of that place or premises and require the person to answer such questions as the compliance officer may ask relative to those matters and to make a declaration of the truth of the answers to those questions.

(4) When performing a function under this Act, a compliance officer may be accompanied by such number of other compliance officers or members of the Garda Síochána as the compliance officer considers appropriate.

(5) A compliance officer shall not enter a dwelling other than with the consent of the occupier.

(6) Any person who—

(a) obstructs or interferes with an officer or member of the Garda Síochána in the course of performing a function conferred on him or her under this section, or

(b) impedes the performance by the officer or member, as the case may be, of such function,

shall be guilty of an offence.