Betting Act, 1926

Powers of entry and investigation.

19.—(1) Any officer of customs and excise or any member of the Gárda Síochána may enter any registered premises at any time during which such premises are or suspected by such officer or member of being open for the transaction of any business, and may there make such searches and investigations as such officer or member shall think proper and may ask of any person found in such premises such questions in relation to the said premises and the business carried on therein as such officer or member shall think proper.

(2) Any officer of customs and excise may at any time enter any premises (not being registered premises) in which the business of bookmaking is or is suspected by such officer to be carried on and may there make such searches and investigations as such officer shall think proper and may demand of any person found in such premises his name and address and may ask of any such person such questions in relation to such premises and the business carried on therein as such officer shall think proper.

(3) Every person who shall do any of the following things, that is to say:—

(a) obstruct or impede any officer of customs and excise or any member of the Gárda Síochána in the exercise of any of the powers conferred on such officer or member by this section, or

(b) fail or refuse to answer to the best of his knowledge and ability any question asked of him by any such officer or member in exercise of a power in that behalf conferred by this section, or

(c) give an answer to any such question which is to his knowledge false or misleading, or

(d) when his name or his address is demanded of him by any such officer in exercise of a power in that behalf conferred by this section, fail or refuse to give his name, or fail or refuse to give his address, or give a name or an address which is false or misleading,

shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to an excise penalty of twenty pounds.