PART IV

Miscellaneous

29. —A person who commits an offence under this Act shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000, or to imprisonment for any term not exceeding twelve months, or, at the discretion of the court, to both such fine and such imprisonment, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £10,000,000, or to imprisonment for any term not exceeding 5 years, or, at the discretion of the court, to both such fine and such imprisonment.

30. —(1) Summary proceedings for any offence under this Act may be brought and prosecuted by the Minister.

(2) Summary proceedings for an offence in relation to a particular harbour or a particular harbour-master may be brought and prosecuted by the harbour authority.

(3) Notwithstanding section 10 (4) of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851, summary proceedings in relation to an offence under this Act may be instituted—

(a) in every case, within two years from the date of the offence, or

(b) if, at the expiry of that period, the person to be charged is outside the State, within six months of the date on which he next enters the State.

(4) Proceedings in relation to an offence under this Act may be taken at any place in the State, and the offence, for all incidental purposes, may be treated as having been committed in that place.

(5) Without prejudice to any other jurisdiction, proceedings in relation to an offence under this Act may be brought against a person at any place where he may, for the time being, be.

31. —Where an offence under this Act is committed by a body corporate and the offence is proved to have been committed with the consent, or connivance, of, or to have been facilitated by any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary, or other similar officer of such body, or of any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he, as well as such body, shall be guilty of that offence.

32. —(1) A body corporate may be sent forward, with or without recognisances, for trial, on indictment, for an offence under this Act.

(2) On arraignment before the Central Criminal Court or the Circuit Court, the body corporate may enter in writing by its representative a plea of guilty or, as the case may be, not guilty, and, if it does not appear by a representative appointed by it for the purpose, or, though it does so appear, fails to enter any plea, the court shall order a plea of not guilty to be entered and the trial shall proceed as though the body corporate had duly entered that plea.

(3) A statement in writing purporting to be signed by the secretary of the body corporate to the effect that the person named in the statement has been appointed as the representative of the body for the purposes of this section shall be admissible without further proof as evidence that the person has been so appointed.

(4) Any summons or document required to be served for the purpose, or in the course, of proceedings for an offence under this Act on a body corporate may be served by leaving it at, or by sending it by registered post to, the registered office of that body or, if there is no such office in the State, by leaving it at, or sending it by registered post to, any place in the State at which the body conducts its business.

33. —(1) Subject to subsection (3), all fines in respect of offences under this Act shall be paid into the Exchequer in accordance with such directions as may, from time to time, be given by the Minister for Finance.

(2) Where a fine imposed on the owner or master of a ship is not duly paid, the court may, without prejudice to any other powers for enforcing payment, direct that any amount of the fine remaining unpaid be levied by the distress and sale of such property, comprising the ship, its equipment and stores as the court thinks necessary.

(3) Where it appears to the court imposing a fine that any person has incurred, or will incur, expense in removing any pollution, or making good any damage attributable to the offence, the court may order that the whole of the fine, or such part thereof as may be specified in the order, be paid to that person for or towards defraying the expense.

34. —Every document purporting to be a record kept in pursuance of this Act, the Intervention Convention, the Intervention Protocol or the MARPOL Convention, or to be a true copy, certified as such by the person required to keep the record, of any entry therein shall, unless the contrary is shown, be presumed to be such and be admissible as evidence of the facts therein without further proof.

35. —Where, as respects a ship registered in the State or a ship wherever registered while in the State, a discharge of any substance to which this Act applies is sighted and the ship is sighted in close proximity to the discharge, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that it was discharged from the ship.

36. —(1) The Continental Shelf Act, 1968 , is hereby amended by the substitution for section 7 of the following section:

“Discharge of oil or other substances.

7.—(1) The Minister for Energy, in consultation with the Minister for the Marine, may make regulations prohibiting or regulating the discharge of any oil, oily mixture, noxious liquid substance, harmful substance, sewage or garbage—

(a) from a pipe-line, or

(b) otherwise than from a ship, as a result of any operation for the exploration of the sea-bed and subsoil, or the exploitation of their natural resources in a designated area.

(2) Where there is a contravention of any such regulations the owner of the pipe-line or, as the case may be, the person carrying on the operations shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000, or to imprisonment for any term not exceeding twelve months, or, at the discretion of the court, to both such fine and such imprisonment, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £10,000,000, or to imprisonment for any term not exceeding 5 years, or, at the discretion of the court, to both such fine and such imprisonment.

(4) In this section ‘oil’, ‘oily mixture’, ‘noxious liquid substance’, ‘harmful substance’, ‘sewage’, ‘garbage’ and ‘discharge’ have the same meanings as in the Sea Pollution Act, 1991.”.

(2) Section 7 of the Continental Shelf Act, 1968 (inserted in that Act by subsection (1)), shall apply for the purposes of this Act to the national territory as it applies to designated areas.

37. —The Oil Pollution of the Sea (Civil Liability and Compensation) Act, 1988 , shall have effect subject to the provisions of the Second Schedule .

38. —Where the Minister is entitled under section 26 to recover any expenses a certificate sealed with the official seal of the Minister and certifying the amount of the expenses shall be prima facie evidence of that amount.

39. —(1) Whenever an inspector or a harbour-master, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 22 (2) or section 24 , detains a ship, the provisions of subsection (2) shall have effect.

(2) Where an inspector or harbour-master has, in exercise of the powers conferred on him under this Act, detained a ship, he shall, as soon as may be, bring the master of the ship against whom proceedings for an offence under this Act have been, or are about to be, instituted before a District Justice and thereupon the District Justice shall, if he is satisfied that such proceedings have been or are about to be issued against the master of the ship, by order directed to an inspector or, as the case may be, harbour-master, require the inspector or harbour-master to detain the master on board the ship or such other person as he may direct, at a specified place in the State until such proceedings have been adjudicated upon by a court in exercise of its criminal jurisdiction, or further order.

40. —(1) Where a person is convicted of an offence under this Act, or proceedings in relation to an offence are dismissed, and the ship in relation to which the offence has been committed has been detained under this Act, the Judge or, as the case may be, the District Justice, concerned shall, by order directed to an inspector or harbour-master, require the inspector or harbour-master, in the event of an appeal from, or other proceedings in relation to, the order of the court hearing the matter, to detain the master on board the ship further pending the determination of the appeal or other proceedings (and any proceedings consequent on the appeal or other proceedings) at a specified place in the State or until further order.

(2) Where, in respect of an offence under this Act, an order is made under this section or under section 39 for the detention of the master, a District Justice may, at his discretion, by order directed to an inspector or harbour-master, as the case may be, require the master to be released unless the ship is being detained under section 22 , 24 or 26, if security which, in the opinion of the District Justice, is satisfactory is given for the payment, in the event of conviction of the defendant in respect of the offence or offences with which he is charged, or in the event of his failure to attend before any court when such attendance is required for the purposes of any preliminary examination under the Criminal Procedure Act, 1967 , in relation to the offence or offences or any trials, appeals or other proceedings in relation to the offence or offences, of a sum that, in the opinion of the District Justice, is sufficient to provide for—

(a) payment of the maximum fine or fines ordered, or which may be ordered, to be paid in respect of the offence or offences, or such sum as, in the opinion of the District Justice, is satisfactory having regard to the circumstances of the case,

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

(3) Where an order is made under this section for the detention or release of the master, he shall be detained or released, as the case may be, in accordance with the terms of the order.

41. —Whenever security is given by a defendant pursuant to section 40 for the payment of any fine imposed in respect of an offence under this Act and for the estimated costs of any trials, appeals or other proceedings in respect of such an offence, the court may, when the trial, appeal or other proceedings, as the case may, has or have been finally determined, if it decides that it is proper so to do, on application of the prosecutor, direct that the amount of the fine imposed in respect of the offence together with the amount of any costs awarded in respect of any trial, appeal or other proceedings, be paid to the Minister out of the security.

42. —Where a person is convicted of an offence under this Act committed after the commencement of this section, the court shall, unless it is satisfied that there are special and substantial reasons for not so doing, order the person to pay to the Minister or to the harbour authority concerned the costs and expenses, measured by the court, reasonably incurred by the Minister or authority in relation to the investigation, detection and prosecution of the offence, including costs incurred in the taking of samples, the carrying out of tests, examinations and analyses and in respect of the remuneration and other expenses of employees, consultants and advisers.

43. —(1) Where a District Justice proposes to make an order for the release on bail of a defendant before him charged with an offence under this Act who is ordinarily resident outside the State, he shall (unless he is satisfied that all documents (including an indictment) required by law to be served on the defendant in connection with or for the purpose of the charge or of any proceedings arising out of or connected with the charge can be duly served on the defendant in the State) direct that those documents may, in lieu of being served on the defendant, be served on a person specified in the direction who is ordinarily resident in the State.

(2) Where a District Justice who has given a direction under this section or another District Justice acting in his place is satisfied that, owing to the death or absence from the State of a person specified in the direction or for any other reason, a document referred to in subsection (1) cannot be served on that person, the Justice shall direct that the document may be served on another person specified in the direction who is ordinarily resident in the State.

(3) Service of a document referred to in this section on a person specified in a direction under this section shall be deemed for all purposes to be service on the defendant concerned.