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3 1958

OFFICE PREMISES ACT, 1958

PART V.

Administration.

Advisory Council.

24. —(1) There shall be a council consisting of a chairman and not more than eleven ordinary members (in this Act referred to as the Advisory Council) to perform the functions assigned to it by this section.

(2) The Advisory Council shall consider and advise the Minister on any matters arising on or in relation to the execution of this Act (including any proposals by the Minister to make, amend or revoke any orders or regulations under this Act) which the Minister may refer to the Council.

(3) The Advisory Council may, as they consider necessary from time to time, advise the Minister on—

(a) the desirability of making, amending or revoking any orders or regulations under this Act,

(b) matters relating to the enforcement of the provisions of this Act or of orders or regulations made under this Act.

(4) The chairman and the ordinary members of the Advisory Council shall be appointed by the Minister.

(5) The first such appointment shall be made as soon as conveniently may be after the passing of this Act and subsequent appointments shall be made from time to time as occasion requires.

(6) In appointing persons to be ordinary members of the Advisory Council, the Minister shall include persons representative of organisations of employees, organisations of employers, and sanitary authorities.

(7) The chairman and the ordinary members of the Advisory Council shall hold office for such period as the Minister may decide.

(8) The chairman of the Advisory Council may be paid such remuneration and allowance for expenses as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, determines.

(9) On the request of the Advisory Council and subject to the consent of the Minister, an inspector who is an officer of the Minister may attend a meeting of the Advisory Council for the purpose of giving any information which the Advisory Council may request for the purposes of discharging its functions.

(10) On the request of the Advisory Council and subject to the consent of a sanitary authority, an officer designated by that sanitary authority may attend a meeting of the Advisory Council for the purpose of giving any information which the Advisory Council may request for the purposes of discharging its functions.

Enforcing authority.

25. —The provisions of this Act shall be enforced—

(a) in the case of offices in the occupation of the State—by the Minister,

(b) in the case of offices in places to which the Factories Act, 1955 (No. 10 of 1955), applies—by the sanitary authority in respect of section 13, and by the Minister in respect of the other provisions of this Act,

(c) in every other case—by the sanitary authority,

and “enforcing authority” shall be construed accordingly.

Exemption certificates.

26. —(1) An enforcing authority may by certificate exempt from all or any of the provisions of this Act or of regulations made thereunder any premises in respect of which, and to the extent to which, it is the enforcing authority.

(2) A certificate shall not be granted for a period exceeding two years but may be renewed for one further period, not exceeding one year.

(3) Conditions may be attached to the grant or renewal of a certificate.

Inspectors.

27. —(1) An enforcing authority may authorise any of its officers or any other suitable person to act as an inspector for the purposes of its functions under this Act.

(2) An inspector appointed by the Minister under the Factories Act, 1955 (No. 10 of 1955), shall be an inspector for the purposes of this Act.

Powers of inspectors.

28. —(1) An inspector shall, for the purposes of the execution of this Act, have power to do all or any of the following things, that is to say—

(a) to enter, inspect and examine at all reasonable times, by day and night, an office, and every part thereof, when he has reasonable cause to believe that any person is employed therein, and to enter by day any place which he has reasonable cause to believe to be an office and any part of any building of which an office forms part and in which he has reasonable cause to believe that explosive or highly inflammable materials are stored or used;

(b) to take with him a member of the Garda Síochána if he has reasonable cause to apprehend any serious obstruction in the execution of his duty;

(c) to require the production of any documents, required to be kept in pursuance of regulations under this Act, and to inspect, examine and copy any of them;

(d) to make such examination and inquiry as may be necessary to ascertain whether the provisions of this Act and the enactments for the time being in force relating to public health are complied with, so far as respects an office and any persons employed in an office;

(e) to require any person whom he finds in an office and whom he has reasonable cause to believe to be employed in the office to give such information as it is in his power to give as to who is the occupier of the office;

(f) to examine, either alone or in the presence of any other person, as he thinks fit, with respect to matters under this Act, every person whom he finds in an office, or whom he has reasonable cause to believe to be or to have been within the preceding two months employed in an office, and to require every such person to be so examined and to sign a declaration of the truth of the matters respecting which he is so examined ;

(g) to exercise such other powers as may be necessary for carrying this Act into effect.

(2) No one shall be required by virtue of paragraph (f) of subsection (1) to answer any question or to give any evidence tending to criminate himself.

(3) The occupier of every office, his agents and servants, shall furnish the means required by an inspector as necessary for any entry, inspection, examination, inquiry or other power under this Act, in relation to that office.

(4) If any person wilfully delays an inspector in the exercise of any power under this section, or fails to comply with the requisition of an inspector in pursuance of this section, or to produce any document which he is required in pursuance of regulations under this Act to produce, or wilfully withholds any information as to who is the occupier of any office, or conceals or prevents, or attempts to conceal or prevent, a person from appearing before or being examined by an inspector, that person shall be deemed to obstruct an inspector in the execution of his duties under this Act.

(5) Where an inspector is obstructed in the execution of his powers or duties under this Act—

(a) if the obstruction is in an office, the occupier, and, if the person obstructing the inspector is not the occupier, also the person obstructing the inspector, shall be guilty of an offence ;

(b) in any other case, the person obstructing the inspector shall be guilty of an offence.

Certificate of authorisation to act as inspector.

29. —Every inspector shall be furnished with a certificate of his authorisation to act as an inspector, and when visiting an office or place to which any of the provisions of this Act apply, shall, if so required, produce the said certificate to the occupier or any other person holding a responsible position of management at the office or place.

Provisions as to regulations, orders and certificates of the Minister.

30. —(1) Every regulation made by the Minister under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either House, within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the regulation has been laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

(2) The Minister shall, before making any orders or regulations under this Act, refer his proposals to the Advisory Council.

(3) Any regulations made by the Minister under this Act may be made for a limited period or without limit of period and may be made subject to such conditions as he thinks fit, and may contain such supplemental and consequential provisions as he considers necessary for giving full effect to the regulations and may, except as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, be varied or revoked by subsequent regulations made in like manner as the original regulations.

(4) Except where otherwise provided, any certificate issued by an enforcing authority under this, Act may be issued for a limited period or without limit of period and may be varied or revoked by the enforcing authority.