Equal Status Act, 2000

Offence-related provisions.

44.—(1) Summary proceedings for an offence under any provision of this Act may be instituted by the Minister or the Authority.

(2) Where an offence under this Act which is committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any person who, when the offence was committed, was a director, manager, secretary or other similar 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 guilty of the offence committed by the body corporate.

(3) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (2) applies as if the reference to a director in that subsection were a reference to a member of the body corporate.

(4) Notwithstanding section 10 (4) of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851 , summary proceedings for an offence under any provision of this Act may be instituted within 12 months from the date of the offence.