Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2012

Social welfare inspectors — amendment.

17.— Section 250 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by inserting the following subsections after subsection (16) (amended by section 13 of the Act of 2011):

“(16A) For the purposes of ensuring compliance with this Act, a social welfare inspector may attend at any port.

(16B) Where, while attending at any port for the purposes of ensuring compliance with this Act, a social welfare inspector—

(a) has reasonable grounds to believe that there has been a contravention of this Act, and

(b) is accompanied by—

(i) a member of the Garda Síochána,

(ii) an officer of Customs and Excise, or

(iii) an immigration officer,

the social welfare inspector concerned may, on production of his or her certificate of appointment—

(i) question and make enquiries of a person who is a passenger at the port and is preparing to embark, or is embarking, from, or has landed in, the State in relation to any matter that concerns compliance with this Act, and

(ii) request such person to produce to that inspector any documents or other information as that inspector may reasonably require for the purposes of establishing the identity, and, where appropriate, the habitual residence, of that person.”,

and

(b) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (17) (inserted by section 16 of the Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Act 2009 ):

“(17) In this section—

‘immigration officer’ shall be construed in accordance with section 3 (1) of the Immigration Act 2004 ;

‘officer of Customs and Excise’ has the meaning assigned to it by the Customs Act 1956 ;

‘passenger’ means any person, other than a member of a crew, travelling or seeking to travel on board a ship or aircraft;

‘port’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 1 (1) of the Immigration Act 2004 .”.