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Person believed to be of unsound mind not under proper care, etc.
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166.—(1) Where the appropriate assistance officer is informed or knows that a person believed to be of unsound mind is not under proper care or control or is neglected or cruelly treated by any relative or other person having the care or charge of him, such officer shall apply in the prescribed form to the authorised medical officer for a recommendation (in this Act also referred to as a recommendation for reception) for the reception and detention of the person believed to be of unsound mind as a person of unsound mind in the district mental hospital for the mental hospital district in which such person ordinarily resides.
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(2) If the person to whom an application under this section relates is a person of no fixed residence and the appropriate assistance officer reports the matter to the member of the Gárda Síochána in charge of the Gárda Síochána station for the Gárda Síochána sub-district in which the person is for the time being, such member of the Gárda Síochána may take the person into custody and remove him to such Gárda Síochána station for the purpose of his examination by the authorised medical officer.
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(3) Where an application is made under this section for a recommendation for reception, the authorised medical officer shall forthwith visit and examine the person to whom the application relates and shall thereupon either—
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(a) if he is satisfied that it is proper to make the recommendation, make it in the prescribed form, or
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(b) in any other case, refuse the application.
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(4) Any person, who obstructs or impedes the authorised medical officer in the exercise of his powers under this section of visiting and examining any person or who obstructs or impedes the appropriate assistance officer in the removal of any person to a district mental hospital in pursuance of a recommendation for reception made under this section, shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding five pounds.
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