Criminal Law (Jurisdiction) Act, 1976

Supplementary provisions.

20.—(1) Proceedings for an offence under section 2 or 3 or under section 2 or 3 (substituted by section 4) of the Explosive Substances Act, 1883 , may be taken in any place in the State and the offence may for all incidental purposes be treated as having been committed in that place.

(2) Where a person is charged with an offence under section 2 or 3, no further proceedings in the matter except such remand or remands in custody or on bail as the court may think necessary shall be taken except by or with the consent of the Attorney General.

(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in the said section 2 or 3 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1883 , a person shall be guilty of an offence under section 2 or 3 whatever his nationality.

(4) (a) Where a person has been acquitted or convicted of an offence under section 2 or 3, an order shall not be made under section 47 of the Extradition Act, 1965 , in relation to an offence by him consisting of the same acts.

(b) Where an offence committed in the State is also an offence under the law of Northern Ireland by reason only of a provision of that law corresponding to section 2 or 3, an order shall not be made under section 47 of the Extradition Act, 1965 , for the purpose of a trial in Northern Ireland in relation to the latter offence.

(5) A person who has been surrendered to the State in accordance with a warrant of arrest endorsed in Northern Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands under a law corresponding to Part III of the Extradition Act, 1965 , shall not be proceeded against, sentenced or imprisoned or otherwise restricted in his personal freedom for any offence under section 2 or 3 (not being an offence specified in the endorsed warrant) committed prior to his surrender unless either—

(a) there is in force a warrant duly issued in Northern Ireland on an information laid by a member of the police of Northern Ireland authorising the arrest of the accused for an offence consisting of the acts constituting the offence under section 2 or for the offence of escaping from custody in Northern Ireland in the circumstances mentioned in section 3, as the case may be, or

(b) the accused has been free to leave the State during a continuous period of seven days after the conclusion of the proceedings in respect of the offence for which he was surrendered and the expiration of any period of detention in prison imposed on him in those proceedings or otherwise or has returned to the State after leaving it during the first-mentioned period:

Provided that for the purposes of paragraph (b) a person shall not be treated as having been free to leave the State, or as having returned to it, at any time when he was on bail.

(6) If a person would, but for this subsection, be required by virtue of section 2 (1) to be sentenced to death, he shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life.

(7) (a) The provisions of the law of the State applied by virtue of this Act to acts done in Northern Ireland shall be read for the purposes of this Act with any necessary modifications and in particular as if references to what is lawful or unlawful included what is lawful or unlawful under the law of Northern Ireland.

(b) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a), in applying section 27 A (inserted by section 8) of the Firearms Act, 1964 , to acts done in Northern Ireland, the absence of any licence or other authority requisite under the law of Northern Ireland relating to firearms, or a breach of a condition attached to any such licence or other authority, is a circumstance that may give rise to a reasonable inference that possession is not for a lawful purpose.

(8) Offences under—

(a) sections 2 and 3 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1883 , and

(b) sections 23 , 23A and 23B of the Larceny Act, 1916 ,

which sections are substituted or inserted by this Act, are felonies.