Mental Health Act 20266
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Powers of inspectors | ||
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138. (1) For the purposes of this Act, an inspector may— | ||
(a) subject to subsections (3) and (4), at all reasonable times enter (if necessary by the use of reasonable force), search and inspect any registered mental health service, any premises in respect of which an application for registration has been made under Part 6 or any premises at, or from, which the inspector has reasonable grounds to believe that mental health services are being, or have been, provided, or that books, documents or records (including records stored in non legible form) in relation to mental health services are kept, | ||
(b) inspect, examine and make copies of or take extracts from any such books, documents or records referred to in paragraph (a) including in the case of information in a non-legible form, copies of or extracts from such information in a permanent legible form or require that such a copy of or extracts therefrom be provided, | ||
(c) without prejudice to any other power conferred by this section, require the registered proprietor, any employee or any person carrying out services for or on behalf of the registered mental health service or premises to give to the inspector such assistance and information and to produce to the inspector any books, documents or records referred to in paragraph (a) that are in that person’s power, possession or procurement, as the inspector may reasonably require for the purposes of his or her functions under this Act, | ||
(d) remove and retain any books, documents or records for such period as the inspector reasonably considers necessary for the purposes of the performance of the inspector’s functions under this Act, or require any person referred to in paragraph (c) to retain and maintain such records for such period as the inspector reasonably considers necessary for those purposes, | ||
(e) require a person referred to in paragraph (c) to answer such questions as the inspector may ask relative to any matter under this Act and to make a declaration of the truth of the answers to those questions, and | ||
(f) require any person by or on whose behalf data equipment is or has been used or any person having charge of, or otherwise concerned with the operation of, the data equipment or any associated apparatus or material, to afford the inspector all reasonable assistance in relation to it and assist in the retrieval of information from such data equipment, apparatus or material. | ||
(2) When performing a function under this Act, an inspector may, subject to any warrant under subsection (4), be accompanied by such number of other inspectors or members of An Garda Síochána as he or she considers appropriate. | ||
(3) An inspector shall not enter a dwelling other than— | ||
(a) with the consent of the occupier, or | ||
(b) pursuant to a warrant under subsection (4). | ||
(4) Upon the sworn information of an inspector, a judge of the District Court may, if satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing— | ||
(a) that information, books, documents or other records (including information, books, documents or records stored in non-legible form) required by an inspector under this section is or are held at any dwelling, or | ||
(b) that evidence of, or evidence relating to, the commission of an offence under this Act, or regulations made thereunder, is to be found in any dwelling, | ||
issue a warrant authorising a named inspector, accompanied by such other inspectors or members of An Garda Síochána as may be necessary, at any time or times, before the expiration of one month from the date of issue of the warrant, to enter (if necessary by the use of reasonable force) the dwelling and perform the functions of an inspector under paragraphs (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) of subsection (1). | ||
(5) Where an inspector believes, upon reasonable grounds, that a person has committed an offence under this Act, he or she may require that person to provide him or her with his or her name and the address at which he or she ordinarily resides. | ||
(6) A statement or admission made by a person pursuant to a requirement under subsection (1)(c) or (e) shall not be admissible as evidence in proceedings brought against the person for an offence (other than an offence under section 143 ). | ||
(7) In this section, “inspector” means the Chief Inspector or an Assistant Inspector. |