Refugee Act, 1996

Prohibition of false information and alteration of identity documents.

20.—(1) In this section “identity documents” includes a passport, visa, national identity card, driving licence, birth certificate, marriage certificate or any other document establishing a person's nationality or identity purporting to be issued by or on behalf of a local or national authority of any country or by an organ or agency of the United Nations.

(2) If a person, for the purposes of or in relation to an application under section 8 , gives or makes to the Commissioner, the Appeal Board or to an authorised officer any statement or information which is to his or her knowledge false or misleading in any material particular, that person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

(3) If a person, for the purposes of or in relation to an application for a declaration, destroys or conceals the identity documents of an applicant or of a person who subsequently makes an application for a declaration with intent to deceive, he or she shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

(4) If a person forges, or fraudulently alters, or assists in forging or fraudulently altering, or procures to be forged or fraudulently altered any identity documents for reward and such documents are used or intended to be used in connection with an application for a declaration, that person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding £60,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.

(5) If a person sells or supplies, or has in his or her possession for the purpose of sale or supply, forged identity documents and such documents are used or intended to be used in connection with an application for a declaration, that person shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both.

(6) A member of the Garda Síochána may arrest without warrant a person whom the member reasonably suspects of committing or of having committed an offence under this section.