Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1981
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Offences, including offences relating to bodies corporate. [1942 IU, s. 51; 1976 (No. 2), s. 8] |
266.—(1) (a) If any person— | |
(i) buys, sells or offers for sale, takes or gives in exchange, or pawns or takes in pawn any supplementary unemployment card, supplementary unemployment book or any used supplementary insurance stamp, | ||
(ii) affixes any used supplementary insurance stamp to any supplementary unemployment card or supplementary unemployment book, or | ||
(iii) affixes to any supplementary unemployment card or supplementary unemployment book a forged or counterfeit supplementary insurance stamp, | ||
he shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(b) If any person, for the purpose of obtaining any supplementary benefit or payment or repayment under this Part, whether for himself or some other person, or for any purpose connected with this Part— | ||
(i) knowingly makes any false statement or false representation or knowingly conceals any material fact, or | ||
(ii) produces or furnishes, or causes or knowingly allows to be produced or furnished, any document or information which he knows to be false in a material particular, | ||
he shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(c) Where a person aids, abets, counsels or procures an employee of his to commit any offence under paragraph (a) or (b) or conspires with the employee for the commission by the employee of any such offence, that person shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(d) A person who is guilty of an offence under this subsection shall be liable— | ||
(i) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £500 or (at the discretion of the court) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both such fine and such imprisonment, or | ||
(ii) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £2,000 or (at the discretion of the court) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both such fine and such imprisonment. | ||
(e) In any proceedings under this subsection in respect of used supplementary insurance stamps, a supplementary insurance stamp shall be deemed to have been used if it has been affixed to a supplementary unemployment card or supplementary unemployment book or has been cancelled or defaced in any way, and whether or not it has actually been used for the purpose of payment of a weekly contribution. | ||
(2) (a) If any employer fails to pay at or within a prescribed time any weekly contribution which he is liable under this Part to pay, he shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(b) If any employer deducts or attempts to deduct the whole or any part of any employer's contribution in respect of a person from that person's remuneration, the employer shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(c) If any employer makes a deduction from the remuneration of a person in respect of any weekly contribution which the employer is liable under this Part to pay, and fails to pay at or within a prescribed time the weekly contribution in respect of which the deduction was made, the employer shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(d) A person who is guilty of an offence under this subsection shall be liable— | ||
(i) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £500 or (at the discretion of the court) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both such fine and such imprisonment, or | ||
(ii) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £2,000 or such amount as is equivalent to twice the amount so unpaid or deducted, whichever is the greater, or (at the discretion of the court) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both such fine and such imprisonment. | ||
(3) Regulations may provide for offences consisting of contraventions of or failures to comply with regulations and for the imposition, at the discretion of the court— | ||
(a) on summary conviction of such offences, of fines not exceeding specified amounts of not more than £500 or of imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or of both such fines and such imprisonment, or | ||
(b) on conviction on indictment of such offences, of fines not exceeding specified amounts of not more than £2,000 or of imprisonment for terms not exceeding two years, or of both such fines and such imprisonment, together with, in the case of continuing offences, further such fines in respect of each day on which the offences are continued. | ||
(4) (a) Where an employer has been convicted under this section of the offence of failing to pay any weekly contributions which he is liable under this Part to pay, he shall be liable to pay to the Fund a sum equal to the amount which he has so failed to pay and, on such a conviction, if notice of the intention to do so has been served with the summons or warrant, evidence may be given of the failure on the part of the employer to pay other weekly contributions in respect of the same person during the three years preceding the date when the notice was so served, and on proof of such failure the court may order the employer to pay to the Fund a sum equal to the total of all the weekly contributions which he is so proved to have failed to pay, and the employer's right of appeal against the conviction under the section shall include a right to appeal against such an order. | ||
(b) Any sum paid by an employer under this subsection shall be treated as a payment in satisfaction of the unpaid weekly contributions, and the insured person's portion of these weekly contributions shall not be recoverable by the employer from the insured person. | ||
(5) (a) In any proceedings under this section or under regulations made under this section or involving any question as to the payment of weekly contributions under this Part or the recovery of any sums due to the Fund, section 119 shall apply in like manner, but with the necessary modifications, in relation to a decision under this Part which is relevant to such proceedings. | ||
(b) Section 301 shall apply in relation to a decision made pursuant to this Part or regulations made thereunder. | ||
(6) Any sum that an employer is liable to pay under subsection (4) or any sum due to the Fund for which a court has made an order for payment may, without prejudice to other methods of recovery, be deducted by the Minister from any sums payable out of the Fund to that employer under this Part and any amounts so deducted shall be paid by the Minister into the Fund. | ||
(7) Nothing in this section or in regulations made under this section shall be construed as preventing the Minister from recovering by means of civil proceedings any sums due to the Fund and all such sums shall be recoverable as debts due to the State and without prejudice to any other remedy may be recovered by the Minister as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction. | ||
[1976 (No. 2), s. 6] | ||
(8) Where an offence under this Part or under regulations made under this Part is committed by a body corporate, every person who at the time of the commission of the offence was a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate or was purporting to act in any such capacity shall also be guilty of that offence. | ||
(9) It shall be a good defence to a prosecution for an offence under subsection (8) for a person to show that the offence was committed without his knowledge and that he exercised all such diligence to prevent the commission of the offence as he ought to have exercised, having regard to the nature of his position as director, manager, secretary or other officer and to all the circumstances. | ||
(10) Any summons or other document required to be served for the purpose of proceedings under this Part on a body corporate may be served— | ||
(a) by leaving it at or sending it by post to the registered office of the body corporate, | ||
(b) by leaving it at or sending it by post to any place in the State at which the body corporate conducts business, or | ||
(c) by sending it by post to any person who is a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate or is purporting to act in any such capacity at the place where that person resides. |