Once more I am glad to welcome this amendment and to agree to the change the Minister proposes to make. As he said, section 25, as originally put before us, was very draconian. It was a pretty simple straightforward provision that a garda only had to be of the opinion that a person had committed an offence under this Act. It is important to note that it dealt with any offence under the Act. If the garda was of the opinion that any offence under the Act was committed he could arrest without warrant. I believe, looking back on it now and reflecting on it, we all agree that was far too sweeping and far too loose in the wording.
A garda had only to be of opinion and the original section did not even state that he had to have any grounds for that opinion. He could, out of the air, as it were, form an opinion that an offence was committed. The Minister is very wise in making the change he now puts before us. A very important aspect of the change is that the new section 25 will be confined to offences under section 15. That is the real essence of the change.
Section 15, is, of course, the pushing section. It is the one which deals with people who are in the commercial business of selling or supplying controlled drugs. The section is directed at the heart of this problem. It tries to catch the people who are engaged in the nefarious trade of pushing controlled drugs. That is basically what section 15 is about.
I fully agree that section 25 will be confined to offences under section 15. The original section 25 would have enabled a garda to arrest a citizen who committed the simplest and most technical type of offence under the Bill. It is quite proper to confine the power of arrest without warrant to offences arising under section 15 because that is really the sort of offence all of us want to get at. That is the activity we want this Bill to bring to a complete stop. We are all quite prepared to give the Garda the maximum possible powers we can legitimately grant them to deal with that type of offence.
The new section 25 also introduces the concept of reasonable cause. A member of the Garda Síochána, before deciding to act under the new section 25, must have reasonable cause, as distinct from the old section 25, which just stated that he would have to be of opinion. That is a commendable change and it is an adequate safeguard. The new section 25 is very cleverly constructed. It is in two parts and it is a very sensible and intelligent approach to divide the matter into those two parts.
Section 25 now stipulates that where a garda has reasonable cause for suspecting that an offence under section 15 of the Act has been committed and so suspects the person of having committed the offence he may arrest without warrant. That is a simple straightforward situation. An offence must be committed before that particular part of the section comes into operation. If the garda has reasonable cause for suspecting that the offence has been committed and that this person has committed it he can arrest him without warrant. We all agree with that. There must be reasonable cause and there must be an actual offence. Then the garda can arrest the person without warrant.
I might not have made it quite clear that subsection (1) of the new section 25 is restricted to section 15, the pushing section. I may have suggested that all of the new section is restricted to offences under section 15. As far as the offences under section 15 are concerned they are dealt with under subsection (1) and the situation is quite straightforward and quite specific.
The second part of the new section deals with offences under this Act other than offences under section 15 and what is proposed there is not quite so draconian as what is proposed in relation to offences under section 15. In subsection (2) of the new section we will be dealing with what I might call ordinary offences, those which are separate from the crime of pushing and selling. The Minister rightly makes an important distinction between those two types of offences.
In regard to the general body of offences which will arise under the other provisions of the Act, other than section 15, a different procedure is envisaged. Again, the Garda must have reasonable cause for suspecting that an offence has been committed or is attempted and that the person involved is the person who has committed or has attempted to commit the offence. Then, if the Garda suspects that unless the person is arrested that he will either abscond for the purpose of evading justice or will obstruct the course of justice or, having inquired of the person, has reasonable doubts as to the person's identity or place of abode, or having inquired of the person, knows that the person does not ordinarily reside in the State or has reasonable doubts as to whether the person so resides, he may arrest the person without warrant.
It is only in those circumstances in regard to offences other than offences under section 17 that the Garda can arrest without warrant. He must suspect that the person will abscond unless arrested or that he has given a wrong identity or wrong address or that he is not normally resident in the State or it is not clear where he resides. I think we would all have no hesitation in agreeing that in those circumstances the Garda concerned should have power to arrest the person without a warrant.
Again it is a difficult situation. It is hard to know where the line should be drawn. We do not want to have members of the Garda Síochána going around arresting without warrant at the drop of a hat, as it were. On the other hand, we do not want the Garda to be completely inhibited from dealing with the problem. The Minister has put forward this proposal which, as I say, is in two parts. It deals with offences under section 15, the pushing section, and then it deals with the rest of the offences which arise under the legislation. Two separate procedures are envisaged for these two separate categories of offences. For my part, I am quite satisfied to accept this proposal. It may not work. The Garda may have to go back to the Minister after a period of time and say. "We cannot deal with the problem under this provision. We would like a different sort of power, or extended power." In that case this Legislature will have to look at the position again and consider what should be done.
At the moment, after our discussion and consideration, this seems to be a reasonable way of proceeding. It certainly meets many of the objections which were put forward and, particularly, it makes this important distinction between the two categories of offences, the type of person who is, by and large, in the area of controlled drugs to make money and the other type of person who is involved in the world of drugs for some other less blameworthy, less culpable reason. Again I commend the Minister for his attempt here in this section to meet the situation and to meet the objections and worries which were expressed by different members of the Special Committee when we were considering the original section.