International Protection Act 2026
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Arrest and detention of applicant subject of transfer decision | ||
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145. (1) Where the Minister takes a decision under section 138 to transfer an applicant to whom section 143 applies to the Member State responsible or the Member State of relocation and an immigration officer or a member of An Garda Síochána considers on the basis of an individual assessment of the individual case— | ||
(a) that specific reasons or circumstances exist to believe that there is a serious risk that the person might abscond, or | ||
(b) that the protection of national security or public order so requires, | ||
the officer or member (in this section referred to as the “arresting officer or member”) may, in order to ensure transfer procedures in accordance with the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation and only in so far as detention is proportional and other less coercive alternative measures cannot be applied effectively, arrest and detain the person concerned in accordance with this section without warrant. | ||
(2) The arresting officer or member shall detain the person concerned for as short a period as possible and for no longer than the time reasonably necessary to facilitate the transfer of the person under the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation or to complete the required administrative procedures with due diligence until the transfer is carried out. | ||
(3) A person arrested in accordance with subsection (1) may be taken by an immigration officer or a member of An Garda Síochána to a prescribed place of detention and detained— | ||
(a) in a prescribed place of detention under warrant of the arresting officer or member and in the custody of the officer of the Minister or member of An Garda Síochána for the time being in charge of the place, and | ||
(b) without prejudice to subsection (2), for a period not exceeding 5 weeks. | ||
(4) For the purpose of arresting a person under subsection (1), an immigration officer or member of An Garda Síochána may enter (if necessary by use of reasonable force) and search any premises (including a dwelling) where the person is or where the immigration officer or member, with reasonable cause, suspects the person to be. | ||
(5) Where the premises where the person is, or where the immigration officer or member suspects the person to be, is a dwelling the immigration officer or member shall not, unless acting with the consent of an occupier of the dwelling or other person who appears to the immigration officer or member to be in charge of the dwelling, enter that dwelling unless— | ||
(a) the person ordinarily resides at the dwelling, or | ||
(b) the immigration officer or member believes on reasonable grounds that the person is within the dwelling. | ||
(6) The matters to which an officer or member referred to in subsection (1) may have regard, in considering whether there is a serious risk that the person subject to the transfer procedure might abscond, include the following: | ||
(a) whether the person, in the purported discharge of his or her duty to establish his or her identity, has misrepresented or omitted facts, whether or not by the use of false documents; | ||
(b) whether the person has failed to comply with a requirement under section 144 ; | ||
(c) whether the person, having been informed of arrangements for his or her transfer, has failed to cooperate with those arrangements; | ||
(d) whether the person has explicitly expressed an intention not to comply with arrangements for his or her transfer; | ||
(e) whether the person has previously failed to comply with the law of the State, or of another state, relating to the entry or presence of foreign nationals in the State or, as the case may be, in that state; | ||
(f) whether the person is being, or has been, detained under Part 5 . | ||
(7) Subject to subsection (8), subsections (1) and (3) shall not apply to a person subject to the transfer procedure who is under the age of 18 years. | ||
(8) If and for so long as the immigration officer or member of An Garda Síochána concerned has reasonable grounds for believing that the person subject to the transfer procedure is not under the age of 18 years, the provisions of subsections (1) and (3) shall apply as if he or she had attained the age of 18 years. | ||
(9) An immigration officer or member of An Garda Síochána may, for the purpose of the transfer, detain a person subject to the transfer procedure in accordance with subsection (10) and place him or her on a vehicle that is soon to leave the State, and to make the necessary arrangements to place the person on that vehicle, and the person shall be deemed to be in lawful custody while so detained and until the vehicle leaves the State. | ||
(10) A person who is detained under subsection (9) may, for the purposes of that subsection, be detained— | ||
(a) for a period no longer than 35 days, | ||
(b) for a period or periods each not exceeding 12 hours, in a vehicle, for the purpose of bringing the person to the port from which the vehicle referred to in subsection (9) is due to leave the State, or | ||
(c) for a period or periods each not exceeding 12 hours, within the port referred to in paragraph (b). | ||
(11) The master or person in charge of a vehicle that is about to leave the State shall, if so directed by an immigration officer or member of An Garda Síochána, receive a person subject to the transfer procedure on board the vehicle and afford the person so received proper accommodation and maintenance during the journey concerned. |