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Powers of Review Board.
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12.— (1) The Review Board shall—
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(a) hold sittings for the purpose of a review by it under this Act and at the sittings may receive submissions and such evidence as it thinks fit,
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(b) take account of the court record (if any) of the proceedings of the court to whose decision the request for review relates and, where such a record exists, the court shall make it available to the Board,
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(c) assign a legal representative to a patient the subject of the review unless he or she proposes to engage one.
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(2) The Review Board may, for the purposes of its functions—
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(a) subject to subsection (10), direct in writing the consultant psychiatrist responsible for the care or treatment of a patient the subject of the review concerned to arrange for the patient to attend before the Review Board on a date and at a time and place specified in the direction,
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(b) direct in writing any person whose evidence is required by the Review Board to attend before the Review Board on a date and at a time and place specified in the direction and there to give evidence and to produce any document or thing in his or her possession or power specified in the direction,
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(c) direct any person in attendance before the Review Board to produce to the Review Board any document or thing in his or her possession or power specified in the direction,
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(d) direct in writing any person to send to the Review Board any document or thing in his or her possession or power specified in the direction, and
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(e) give any other directions for the purpose of the proceedings concerned that appear to the Review Board to be reasonable and just.
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(3) The reasonable expenses of witnesses directed under subsection (2)(b) to attend before the Review Board shall be paid by the Board out of moneys at the disposal of the Board.
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(4) A person who—
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(a) having been directed under subsection (2) to attend before the Review Board and, in the case of a person so directed under paragraph (b) of that subsection, having had tendered to him or her any sum in respect of the expenses of his or her attendance which a witness summoned to attend before the High Court would be entitled to have tendered to him or her, without just cause or excuse disobeys the direction,
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(b) being in attendance before the Review Board pursuant to a direction under paragraph (b) of subsection (2), refuses to take the oath on being required by the Review Board to do so or refuses to answer any question to which the Review Board may legally require an answer or to produce any document or thing in his or her possession or power legally required by the Review Board to be produced by the person,
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(c) fails or refuses to send to the Review Board any document or thing legally required by the Review Board under paragraph (d) of subsection (2) to be sent to it by the person or without just cause or excuse disobeys a direction under paragraph (c), (d) or (e) of that subsection, or
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(d) does any other thing in relation to the proceedings before the Review Board which, if done in relation to proceedings before a court by a witness in the court, would be contempt of that court,
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shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €3,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.
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(5) If a person gives false evidence before a Review Board in such circumstances that, if he or she had given the evidence before a court, he or she would be guilty of perjury, he or she shall be guilty of that offence.
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(6) The procedure of the Review Board in relation to a review by it under this Act shall, subject to the provisions of this Act be such as shall be determined by the Review Board with the consent of the Minister and the Review Board shall, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, make provision for—
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(a) for the purpose of subsection (1)(c), the making, with the consent of the Minister and the Minister for Finance, of a scheme or schemes for the granting by the Review Board of legal aid to patients,
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(b) notifying the consultant psychiatrist responsible for the care or treatment of the patient the subject of the review and the patient and his or her legal representative of the date, time and place of the relevant sitting of the Review Board,
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(c) giving the patient the subject of the review and his or her legal representative a copy of any document furnished to the Review Board and an indication in writing of thenature and source of any information relating to the matter which has come to notice in the course of the review,
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(d) subject to subsection (10), enabling the patient the subject of the review and his or her legal representative to be present at the relevant sitting of the Review Board and enabling the patient the subject of the review to present his or her case to the Review Board in person or through a legal representative,
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(e) enabling the Minister, the Director of Public Prosecutions and, where appropriate, the Minister for Defence to be heard or represented at sittings of the Review Board,
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(f) enabling written statements to be admissible as evidence by the Review Board with the consent of the patient the subject of the review or his or her legal representative,
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(g) enabling any signature appearing on a document produced before the Review Board to be taken, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to be that of the person whose signature it purports to be,
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(h) the examination by or on behalf of the Review Board and the cross-examination by or on behalf of the patient the subject of the review concerned on oath or otherwise as it may determine of witnesses before the Review Board called by it,
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(i) the examination by or on behalf of the patient the subject of the review and the cross-examination by or on behalf of the Review Board (on oath or otherwise as the Review Board may determine), of witnesses before the Review Board called by the patient the subject of the review,
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(j) the determination by the Review Board whether evidence at the Review Board should be given on oath or otherwise,
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(k) the administration by the Review Board of the oath to witnesses before the Review Board, and
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(l) the making of a sufficient record of the proceedings of the Review Board.
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(7) A witness whose evidence has been, is being or is to be given before the Review Board in proceedings under this Act shall be entitled to the same privileges and immunities as a witness in a court.
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(8) Sittings of a Review Board for the purposes of an investigation by it under this Act shall be held in private.
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(9) The following shall be absolutely privileged:
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(a) documents of the Review Board and documents of its members connected with the Review Board or its functions, wherever published;
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(b) reports of the Review Board, wherever published;
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(c) statements made in any form at meetings or sittings of the Review Board by its members or officials and such statements wherever published subsequently.
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(10) A patient shall not be required to attend before the Review Board under this section if, in the opinion of the Review Board, such attendance might be prejudicial to his or her mental health, well-being or emotional condition.
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