PART III.

The Reserve.

210. —It shall be lawful for the Executive Council to raise and maintain a reserve force (hereinafter referred to as the Reserve) for the Forces consisting of such number of officers, non-commissioned officers and men as may from time to time be provided by the Oireachtas.

211. —The control of the Reserve shall be vested in the Executive Council subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act.

212. —The Reserve shall consist of—

1. The Reserve of Officers.

2. The Reserve of Men.

213. —(1) The Reserve of Officers shall consist of officers of the Forces who have retired therefrom.

(2) Officers belonging to the Reserve of Officers shall be liable to be recalled to service in the Forces under such conditions as may be prescribed.

(3) Officers belonging to the Reserve of Officers shall serve under such conditions as may be prescribed.

214. —(1) The Reserve of Men shall consist of non-commissioned officers and men who having served in the Forces have been transferred to the Reserve in pursuance of Part II ., Chapter V ., of this Act.

(2) Men belonging to the Reserve of Men shall be liable to be recalled to service in the Forces as provided by this Part of this Act.

The expression “man” when used in this Part of this Act shall unless inconsistent with the context include a noncommissioned officer.

215. —The Reserve shall be organised by such units of the various combatant arms and departmental services as may be prescribed.

216. —(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act it shall be lawful for the Minister from time to time to make and when made revoke and vary orders with respect to the government, discipline, and pay of the Reserve and with respect to other matters and things relating to the Reserve, including any matter by this Part of this Act authorised to be prescribed or expressed to be subject to orders or regulations.

(2) All orders and general regulations made under this Part of this Act shall be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas as soon as practicable after they are made if both Houses be then sitting, or if both Houses of the Oireachtas be not sitting, then as soon as practicable after the beginning of the then next session of the Oireachtas.

217. —The Reserve shall be established as from a date to be fixed by Proclamation of the Executive Council in the Iris Oifigiúil.

218. —(1) It shall be lawful for an Executive Minister at any time, when occasion appears to so require, to call out the whole or so many of the Reserve as he thinks necessary to aid the civil power in the preservation of public order.

(2) It shall be lawful for any officer commanding the Forces in any town or district on the requisition in writing of a District Justice to call out for the purpose aforesaid the men belonging to the Reserve who are resident in such town or such of them as he may think necessary.

219. —(1) Where a man belonging to the Reserve—

(a) Fails without reasonable excuse on two consecutive occasions to comply with the orders or regulations in force under this Part of this Act with respect to the payment of the Reserve; or

(b) When required by or in pursuance of the orders or regulations in force under this Part of this Act to attend at any place fails without reasonable excuse to attend in accordance with such requirements; or

(c) Uses threatening or insulting language or behaves in an insubordinate manner to any officer or non-commissioned officer who in pursuance of the orders or regulations in force under this Part of this Act is acting in execution of his office and who would be the superior officer of such man, if such man were subject to military law; or

(d) By any fraudulent means obtains or is accessory to the obtaining of any pay or other sum contrary to the orders or regulations in force under this Part of this Act; or

(e) Fails without reasonable excuse to comply with the orders or regulations in force under this Part of this Act;

he shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) A man belonging to the Reserve who commits an offence under this Section, whether otherwise subject to military law or not shall be liable as follows:—

(a) Be liable to be tried by Court-Martial and on conviction to suffer imprisonment or such less punishment as is in Part II., Chapter I., of this Act mentioned; or

(b) Be liable to be convicted by a Court of Summary Jurisdiction and to be sentenced to a fine of not less than forty shillings and not more than twenty-five pounds, and in default of payment to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for any term of not less than seven days and not more than the maximum term allowed by law for non-payment of the fine and may in any case be taken into military custody.

(3) Where a man belonging to the Reserve commits in the presence of any officer an offence under this Section, or any offences under sub-section two or sub-section three of Section 135 of this Act (relating to the punishment of personation) that officer may, if he thinks fit, order such man, in lieu of being taken into military custody, to be taken into the custody of any Civic Guard, and brought before a Court of Summary Jurisdiction for the purpose of being dealt with by that Court.

(4) A certificate purporting to be signed by an officer who is therein mentioned as an officer appointed to pay a man belonging to the Reserve, and stating that such man has failed on two consecutive occasions to comply with the orders or regulations in force under this Part of this Act with respect to the payment of the Reserve, shall, without proof of the signature or appointment of such officer, be evidence of such failure.

(5) Where a man belonging to the Reserve is required by or in pursuance of the orders or regulations in force under this Part of this Act to attend at any place, a certificate purporting to be signed by an officer or person who is mentioned in such certificate as appointed to be present at such place for the purpose of inspecting men belonging to the Reserve, or for any other purpose connected with the Reserve, and stating that the man failed to attend in accordance with the said requirement, shall, without proof of the signature or appointment of such officer or person, be evidence of such failure.

220. —(1) All or any of the men belonging to the Reserve may be called out for training at such times and at such place or places within Saorstát Eireann and for such periods as may be prescribed not exceeding in any one year thirty days.

(2) Every man so called out may during his training be attached to and trained with a body of the Forces.

221. —(1) In case of imminent national danger or of great emergency it shall be lawful for the Executive Council by proclamation the occasion being first communicated to the Oireachtas if the Oireachtas be then sitting, or notified by proclamation if the Oireachtas be not then sitting, to order that the Reserve shall be called out on permanent service.

(2) It shall be lawful for the Executive Council by any such proclamation to order an Executive Minister from time to time to give and when given to revise or vary such directions as may seem necessary or proper for calling out the force mentioned in the proclamation or all or any of the men belonging thereto.

(3) Every such proclamation and the directions given in pursuance thereof shall be obeyed as if enacted in this Act, and every man for the time being called out by such directions shall attend at the place and time fixed by those directions and at and after that time shall be deemed to be called out on permanent service.

(4) A proclamation under this Section shall for the purpose of Section one hundred and fifty-five of this Act be deemed to be a proclamation requiring soldiers in the Reserve to re-enter upon army service.

222. —Whenever the Executive Council orders the Reserve to be called out on permanent service if the Oireachtas be then separated by such adjournment or prorogation as will not expire within ten days, a proclamation shall be issued for the meeting of the Oireachtas within ten days and the Oireachtas shall accordingly meet and sit upon the day appointed by such proclamation, and shall continue to sit and act in like manner as if it had stood adjourned or prorogued to the same day.

223. —(1) A man belonging to the Reserve when called out on permanent service shall be liable to serve until the Executive Council no longer requires his services, so however that he shall not be required to serve for a period exceeding in the whole the remainder unexpired of his term of service in the Reserve and any further period not exceeding twelve months during which as a soldier of the Forces he can under Section one hundred and fifty-five of this Act, be detained in service after the time at which he would be entitled to be discharged.

(2) A man called out on permanent service shall during his service form part of the Forces and be subject to Part II . of this Act accordingly and the prescribed military authority within the meaning of Chapter V . of Part II . of this Act may if it seems proper appoint him to any corps as a soldier of the Forces and the said prescribed military authority may within three months after such appointment transfer him to any other corps of the Forces.

224. —(1) When a man belonging to the Reserve is called out for annual training or on permanent service, or when a man belonging to the Reserve is called out in aid of the civil power, and such man without leave lawfully granted or such sickness or other reasonable excuse as may be allowed in the prescribed manner, fails to appear at any time and place at which he is required upon such calling out to attend, he shall—

(a) If called out on permanent service or in aid of the civil power be guilty according to the circumstances of deserting within the meaning of Section forty-two of this Act or of absenting himself without leave within the meaning of Section forty-five of this Act; and

(b) If called out for annual training be guilty of absenting himself without leave within the meaning of Section forty-five of this Act.

(2) A man belonging to the Reserve who commits an offence under this Section or under Section forty-two or Section forty-five of this Act, whether otherwise subject to military law or not, shall be liable as follows, that is to say:—

(a) Be liable to be tried by Court-Martial and convicted and punished accordingly; or

(b) Be liable to be convicted by a Court of Summary Jurisdiction, and to be sentenced to a fine of not less than forty shillings and not more than twenty-five pounds, and in default of payment to imprisonment with or without hard labour for any term not less than seven days and not more than the maximum term allowed by law for non-payment of the fine,

and may in any case be taken into military custody.

225. —(1) Section one hundred and ninety of this Act shall apply to a man who is a deserter or absentee from the Reserve within the meaning of this Part of this Act in like manner as it applies to a deserter in that Section mentioned, and a man who under that Section is delivered into military custody or committed for the purpose of being so delivered may be tried as provided by this Part of this Act.

(2) Any person who falsely represents himself to be a deserter or absentee without leave from the Reserve, shall be liable on conviction by a Court of Summary Jurisdiction to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding three months.

226. —(1) Any person who by any means whatever—

(a) Procures or persuades any man belonging to the Reserve to commit an offence of absence without leave within the meaning of this Part of this Act or attempts to procure or persuade any man belonging to the Reserve to commit such offence; or

(b) Knowing that a man belonging to the Reserve is about to commit an offence of absence without leave within the meaning of this Part of this Act, aids or assists him in so doing; or

(c) Knowing any man belonging to the Reserve to be an absentee without leave within the meaning of this Part of this Act, conceals such man or aids or assists him in concealing himself or employs or continues to employ him or aids or assists in his rescue;

shall be liable on conviction by a Court of Summary Jurisdiction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

(2) Section one hundred and eighty-eight of this Act shall apply as if a man belonging to the Reserve were a soldier and as if the word “desert” and any other words referring to desertion included desertion within the meaning of this Part of this Act as well as desertion within the meaning of Part II. Chapter I. of this Act; and any person who, knowing any man belonging to the Reserve to be a deserter within the meaning of this Act employs or continues to employ such man, shall be deemed to aid him in concealing himself within the meaning of the said Section.

227. —(1) Where a man belonging to the Reserve is subject to military law, and is illegally absent from duty, a court of inquiry under Section one hundred and nineteen of this Act, may be assembled after the expiration of twenty-one days from the date of such absence, notwithstanding that the period during which such man was subject to military law is less than twenty-one days, or has expired before the expiration of twenty-one days; and the record mentioned in that Section may be entered in the manner thereby provided, or in such regimental books and by such officer as may be prescribed.

(2) Where a man belonging to the Reserve fails to appear at the time and place at which he is required upon being called out for training or on permanent service to attend, and his absence continues for not less than fourteen days, an entry of such absence shall be made by the prescribed officer in the prescribed manner and in the prescribed regimental books and such entry shall be conclusive evidence of the fact of such absence.

228. —(1) Any power or jurisdiction given to and any act or thing to be done by, to or before any person holding any military office may in relation to the Reserve be exercised by or done by, to or before any other person for the time being authorised in that behalf according to the custom of the service.

(2) Where by this Part of this Act or by any order or regulation in force under this Part of this Act, any order is authorised to be made by any military authority such order may be signified by an order, instruction or letter under the hand of an officer authorised to issue orders on behalf of such military authority, and an order, instruction, or letter purporting to be signed by an officer appearing therein to be so authorised shall be evidence of his being so authorised.

229. —(1) For the purpose of Section one hundred and thirty-nine of this Act and of all other enactments relating to such duties, tolls and ferries as are in that Section mentioned officers and men belonging to the Reserve when going to or returning from any place at which they are required to attend and for non-attendance at which they are liable to be punished shall be deemed to be officers and soldiers of the Forces on duty.

(2) The provisions of Section two hundred and six of this Act and all other enactments for the time being in force concerning the conveyance by railway or otherwise of any part of the Forces and their baggage, stores, arms, ammunition and other necessaries and things, shall apply as if the Reserve were such part of the Forces.

230. —With respect to notices required in pursuance of the orders or regulations in force under this Part of this Act to be given to men belonging to the Reserve the following provisions shall have effect:—

(i) A notice may be served on any such man either by being sent by post to his last registered place of abode or by being served in the prescribed manner;

(ii) Evidence of the delivery at the last registered place of abode of a man belonging to the Reserve of a notice, or of a letter addressed to such man and containing a notice, shall be evidence that such notice was brought to the knowledge of such man;

(iii) The publication of a notice in the prescribed manner in the parish in which the last registered place of abode of a man belonging to the Reserve is situate shall be sufficient notice to such man, notwithstanding that a copy of such notice is not served on him;

(iv) Every Civic Guard shall when so required by or on behalf of the Minister, conform with the orders and regulations for the time being in force under this Part of this Act with respect to the publication and service of notices, and in default shall be liable on conviction by a Court of Summary Jurisdiction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

231. —(1) Any offence, which under this Act is punishable on conviction by Court-Martial, shall for the purposes of and incidental to the arrest, trial and punishment of the offender, including the summary dealing with the case by his Commanding Officer, be deemed to be an offence under Part II . of this Act with this modification that reference in Part II . of this Act to forfeitures and stoppages shall be construed to refer to such forfeitures and stoppages as may be prescribed.

(2) Any offence which under this Part of this Act is punishable on conviction by a Court of Summary Jurisdiction may be prosecuted, and any fine recoverable on such conviction may be recovered in manner provided by Section one hundred and ninety-nine of this Act (in like manner as if that Section was herein re-enacted and in terms made applicable to this Part of this Act).

(3) Save as provided by the said Section one hundred and ninety-nine the minimum fixed by this Part of this Act for the amount of any fine or for the term of any imprisonment shall be duly observed by Courts of Summary Jurisdiction and shall notwithstanding anything contained in any other Act not be reduced by way of mitigation or otherwise.

(4) For the purposes of this Section the expression “tried by Court-Martial” shall include “summarily dealt with.”

232. —With respect to the trial and punishment of men charged with offences which in pursuance of this Act are cognisable both by a Court-Martial and by a Court of Summary Jurisdiction, the following provisions shall have effect:—

(i) An alleged offender shall not be liable to be, tried by Court-Martial and by a Court of Summary Jurisdiction, but may be tried by either of such Courts, according as may be prescribed by orders or regulations under this Part of this Act.

(ii) Proceedings against an alleged offender before either a Court-Martial or his Commanding Officer or a Court of Summary Jurisdiction, may be instituted whether the term of his Reserve service has or has not expired, and may notwithstanding anything in any Act, be instituted at any time within two months after the time at which the offence becomes known to an officer who under the powers or regulations in force under this Part of this Act has power to direct the offender to be tried by a Court-Martial or by a Court of Summary Jurisdiction, if the offender is apprehended at that time, or if he is not apprehended at that time, then within two months after the time at which he is apprehended, whether such apprehension is by a civil or military authority, and any limitation contained in any other Act with respect to the time for hearing and determining an offence shall not apply in the case of any proceeding so instituted.

233. —(1) Section one hundred and ninety-seven of this Act (which relates to evidence of the civil conviction or acquittal of a person subject to military law) shall apply to a man belonging to the Reserve who is tried by a Civil Court, whether he is or is not at the time of such trial subject to military law.

(2) Section one hundred and ninety-six of this Act (relating to evidence) shall apply to all proceedings under this Part of this Act.