Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1999

Penalties and prosecution of offences.

40.—(1) A person who is guilty of an offence under section 9 (4) or 14 shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,500 (together with, in the case of a continuing offence, a fine not exceeding £150 for every day on which the offence is continued) or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 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 £1,000,000 (together with, in the case of a continuing offence, a fine not exceeding £10,000 for every day on which the offence is continued) or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or, at the discretion of the court, to both such fine and such imprisonment.

(2) Where an offence under section 9 (4) or 14 is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or connivance of or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of any person, being a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that person, as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of an offence and be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he or she were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.

(3) An offence under section 9 (4) or 14 may be prosecuted summarily by the planning authority in whose functional area the offence is committed.