Offences against the State Act , 1939

PART I. Preliminary and General.

1. Short title.

1.—This Act may be cited as the Offences against the State Act, 1939.

2. Definitions.

2.—In this Act—

the word “organisation” includes associations, societies, and other organisations or combinations of persons of whatsoever nature or kind, whether known or not known by a distinctive name;

the word “document” includes a book and also a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, and also a pamphlet leaflet, circular, or advertisement F1[and also—

(a) any map, plan, graph or drawing,

(b) any photograph,

(c) any disc, tape, sound track or other device in which sounds or other data (not being visual images) are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other equipment) of being reproduced therefrom, and

(d) any film, microfilm, negative, tape or other device in which one or more visual images are embodied (whether with or without sounds or other data) so as to be capable (as aforesaid) of being reproduced therefrom and a reproduction or still reproduction of the image or images embodied therein whether enlarged or not and whether with or without sounds or other data];

the expression “incriminating document” means a document of whatsoever date, or bearing no date, issued by or emanating from an unlawful organisation or appearing to be so issued or so to emanate or purporting or appearing to aid or abet any such organisation or calculated to promote the formation of an unlawful organisation;

the expression “treasonable document” includes a document which relates directly or indirectly to the commission of treason; the expression “seditious document” includes—

(a)a document consisting of or containing matter calculated or tending to undermine the public order or the authority of the State, and

(b)a document which alleges, implies, or suggests or is calculated to suggest that the government functioning under the Constitution is not the lawful government of the State or that there is in existence in the State any body or organisation not functioning under the Constitution which is entitled to be recognised as being the government of the country, and

(c)a document which alleges, implies, or suggests or is calculated to suggest that the military forces maintained under the Constitution are not the lawful military forces of the State, or that there is in existence in the State a body or organisation not established and maintained by virtue of the Constitution which is entitled to be recognised as a military force, and

(d)a document in which words, abbreviations, or symbols referable to a military body are used in referring to an unlawful organisation;

the word “offence” includes treason, felonies, misdemeanours, and statutory and other offences;

references to printing include every mode of representing or reproducing words in a visible form, and the word “print” and all cognate words shall be construed accordingly.

3. Exercise of powers by superintendents of the Gárda Síochána.

3.—Any power conferred by this Act on an officer of the Gárda Síochána not below the rank of chief superintendent may be exercised by any superintendent of the Gárda Síochána who is authorised (in respect of any particular power or any particular case) in that behalf in writing by the Commissioner of the Gárda Síochána.

4. Expenses.

4.—The expenses incurred by any Minister of State in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

5. Repeals.

5.—The Treasonable Offences Act, 1925 (No. 18 of 1925), and the Public Safety (Emergency Powers) Act, 1926 (No. 42 of 1926), are hereby repealed.

PART II. Offences Against the State.

6. Usurpation of functions of government.

6.—(1)Every person who usurps or unlawfully exercises any function of government, whether by setting up, maintaining, or taking part in any way in a body of persons purporting to be a government or a legislature but not authorised in that behalf by or under the Constitution, or by setting up, maintaining, or taking part in any way in a purported court or other tribunal not lawfully established, or by forming, maintaining, or being a member of an armed force or a purported police force not so authorised, or by any other action or conduct whatsoever, shall be guilty of felony and shall be liable on conviction thereof F2[to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 20 years].

(2)Every person who shall attempt to do any thing the doing of which is a felony under the foregoing sub-section of this section or who aids or abets or conspires with another person to do or attempt to do any such thing or advocates or encourages the doing of any such thing shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall be liable on conviction thereof to F2[imprisonment for a term not exceeding 20 years].

7. Obstruction of government.

7.—(1)Every person who F3[(whether in or outside the State)] prevents or obstructs, or attempts or is concerned in an attempt to prevent or obstruct, by force of arms or other violent means or by any form of intimidation the carrying on of the government of the State or any branch (whether legislative, judicial, or executive) of the government of the State or the exercise or performance by any member of the legislature, the judiciary, or the executive or by any officer or employee (whether civil (including police) or military) of the State of any of his functions, powers, or duties shall be guilty of felony and shall be liable on conviction thereof F4[to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 20 years].

(2)Every person who F3[(whether in or outside the State)] aids or abets or conspires with another person to do any thing the doing of which is a felony under the foregoing sub-section of this section or advocates or encourages the doing of any such thing shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall be liable on conviction thereof to F4[imprisonment for a term not exceeding 20 years].

F3[(3) A person shall be guilty of an offence under this section for conduct that the person engages in outside the State only if—

(a) the conduct takes place on board an Irish ship (within the meaning ofsection 9of theMercantile Marine Act 1955),

(b) the conduct takes place on an aircraft registered in the State,

(c) the person is an Irish citizen, or

(d) the person is ordinarily resident in the State.

(4) A person who has his principal residence in the State for the 12 months immediately preceding the commission of an offence under subsection (1) or (2) of this section is, for the purposes of subsection (3)(d) of this section, ordinarily resident in the State on the date of the commission of the offence.]

8. Obstruction of the President.

8.—(1)Every person who prevents or obstructs, or attempts or is concerned in an attempt to prevent or obstruct, by force of arms or other violent means or by any form of intimidation the exercise or performance by the President of any of his functions, powers, or duties shall be guilty of felony and shall be liable on conviction thereof to suffer penal servitude for a term not exceeding seven years or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

(2)Every person who aids or abets or conspires with another person to do any thing the doing of which is a felony under the foregoing sub-section of this section or advocates or encourages the doing of any such thing shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall be liable on conviction thereof to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

9. Interference with military or other employees of the State.

9.—(1)Every person who shall with intent to undermine public order or the authority of the State commit any act of violence against or of interference with a member of a lawfully established military or police force (whether such member is or is not on duty) or shall take away, injure, or otherwise interfere with the arms or equipment, or any part of the arms or equipment, of any such member shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall be liable on conviction thereof to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

(2)Every person who shall incite or encourage any person employed in any capacity by the State to refuse, neglect, or omit (in a manner or to an extent calculated to dislocate the public service or a branch thereof) to perform his duty or shall incite or encourage any person so employed to be negligent or insubordinate (in such manner or to such extent as aforesaid) in the performance of his duty shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall be liable on conviction thereof to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

(3)Every person who attempts to do any thing the doing of which is a misdemeanour under either of the foregoing sub-sections of this section or who aids or abets or conspires with another person to do or attempt to do any such thing or advocates or encourages the doing of any such thing shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall be liable on conviction thereof to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months.

10. Prohibition of printing, etc., certain documents.

10.—(1)It shall not be lawful to set up in type, print, publish, send through the post, distribute, sell, or offer for sale any document—

(a)which is or contains or includes an incriminating document, or

(b)which is or contains or includes a treasonable document, or

(c)which is or contains or includes a seditious document.

(2)In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing sub-section of this section, it shall not be lawful for any person to send or contribute to any newspaper or other periodical publication or for the proprietor of any newspaper or other periodical publication to publish in such newspaper or publication any letter, article, or communication which is sent or contributed or purports to be sent or contributed by or on behalf of an unlawful organisation or which is of Such nature or character that the printing of it would be a contravention of the foregoing sub-section of this section.

(3)Every person who shall contravene either of the foregoing sub-sections of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this sub-section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment and also (in any case), if the Court so directs, to forfeit every copy in his possession of the document, newspaper, or publication in relation to which the offence was committed and also (where the act constituting the offence was the setting up in type or the printing of a document) to forfeit, if the Court so directs, so much of the printing machinery in his possession as is specified in that behalf by the Court,

(4)Every person who unlawfully has in his possession a document which was printed or published in contravention of this section or a newspaper or other periodical publication containing a letter, article, or other communication published therein in contravention of this section shall, when so requested by a member of the Gárda Síochána, deliver up to such member every copy in his possession of such document or of such newspaper or publication (as the case may be), and if he fails or refuses so to do he shall be guilty of an offence under this sub-section and shall be liable on-summary conviction thereof to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months and also, if the Court so directs, to forfeit every copy in his possession of the document, newspaper or publication in relation to which the offence was committed.

(5)Nothing in this section shall render unlawful the setting up in type, printing, publishing, sending through the post, distributing, selling, offering for sale, or having possession of a document or a copy of a document which is published at the request or by permission of the Government or is published in the course or as part of a fair report of the proceedings in either House of the Oireachtas or in a court of justice or before any other court or tribunal lawfully exercising jurisdiction.

11. Foreign newspapers, etc., containing seditious or unlawful matter.

11.—(1)Whenever the Minister for Justice is of opinion, in respect of a newspaper or other periodical publication ordinarily printed outside the State, that a particular issue of such publication either is seditious or contains any matter the publication of which is a contravention of this Act, the said Minister may by order, if he considers that it is in the public interest so to do, do either or both of the following things, that is to say:—

(a)authorise members of the Gárda Síochána to seize and destroy all copies of the said issue of such publication wherever they may be found;

(b)prohibit the importation of any copy of any issue of such publication published within a specified period (not exceeding three months) after the publication of the said issue of such publication.

(2)The Minister for Justice may by order, whenever he thinks proper so to do, revoke or amend any order made by him under the foregoing sub-section of this section or any order (made by him under this sub-section) amending any such order.

(3)It shall not be lawful for any person to import any copy of an issue of a periodical publication the importation of which is prohibited by an order under this section F6[…].

12. Possession of treasonable, seditious, or incriminating documents.

12.—(1)It shall not be lawful for any person to have any treasonable document, seditious document, or incriminating document in his possession or on any lands or premises owned or occupied by him or under his control.

(2)Every person who has a treasonable document, seditious document, or incriminating document in his possession or on any lands or premises owned or occupied by him or under his control shall be guilty of an offence under this sub-section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.

(3)Where a person is charged with an offence under this section, it shall be a good defence to such charge for such person to prove—

(a)that he is an officer of the State and had possession or custody of the document in respect of which the offence is alleged to have been committed in the course of his duties as such officer, or

(b)that he did not know that the said document was in his possession or on any lands or premises owned or occupied by him or under his control, or

(c)that he did not know the nature or contents of the said document.

(4)Every person who has in his possession a treasonable document, seditious document, or incriminating document shall, when so requested by a member of the Gárda Síochána, deliver up to such member the said document and every copy thereof in his possession, and if he fails or refuses so to do he shall be guilty of an offence under this sub-section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months.

(5)Where the proprietor or the editor or other chief officer of a newspaper or other periodical publication receives a document which appears to him to be a treasonable document, a seditious document, or an incriminating document and such document is not published in such newspaper or periodical publication, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a)if such proprietor, editor, or chief officer is requested by a member of the Gárda Síochána to deliver up such document to such member, such proprietor, editor, or chief officer may, in lieu of so delivering up such document, destroy such document and every (if any) copy thereof in his possession in the presence and to the satisfaction of such member;

(b)if such proprietor, editor, or chief officer destroys under the next preceding paragraph of this sub-section such document and every (if any) copy thereof in his possession or of his own motion destroys such document within twenty-four hours after receiving it and without having made any copy of it or permitted any such copy to be made, such destruction shall be a good defence to any charge against such proprietor, editor, or chief officer of an offence under any sub-section of this section in respect of such document and no civil or criminal action or other proceeding shall lie against such proprietor, editor, or chief officer on account of such destruction.

13. Provisions in respect of documents printed for reward.

13.—(1)Every person who shall print for reward any document shall do every of the following things, that is to say:—

(a)at the time of or within twenty-four hours after printing such document, print or write on at least one copy of such document the name and address of the person for whom or on whose instructions such document was printed;

(b)retain, for six months from the date on which such document was printed, a copy of such document on which the said name and address is printed or written as aforesaid;

(c)on the request of a member of the Gárda Síochána at any time during the said period of six months, produce for the inspection of such member the said copy of such document so retained as aforesaid.

(2)Every person who shall print for reward any document and shall fail to comply in any respect with the foregoing sub-section of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof, in the case of a first such offence, to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds and, in the case of a second or any subsequent such offence, to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

(3)This section does not apply to any newspaper, magazine or other periodical publication which is printed by the proprietor thereof on his own premises.

14. Obligation to print printer's name and address on documents.

14.—(1)Every person who shall print for reward any document (other than a document to which this section does not apply) which he knows or has reason to believe is intended to fee sold or distributed (whether to the public generally or to a restricted class or number of persons) or to be publicly or privately displayed shall, if such document consists only of one page or sheet printed on one side only, print his name and the address of his place of business on the front of such document and shall, in every other case, print the said name and address on the first or the last page of such document.

(2)Every person who shall contravene by act or omission the foregoing sub-section of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof, in the case of a first such offence, to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds and, in the case of a second or any subsequent such offence, to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

(3)This section does not apply to any of the following documents, that is to say:—