Finance Act 2008

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Questioning of suspects in Garda Sí­ochána custody in certain circumstances.

134.— Chapter 4 of Part 38 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting the following after section 912A—

“912B.— (1) In this section—

‘ authorised officer ’ means an officer of the Revenue Commissioners authorised by them in writing to exercise the powers conferred by this section;

‘ specified offence ’ means any offence under—

(a) the Customs Acts, including any offence under section 1078 or 1078A in so far as those sections relate to customs, and any instruments made thereunder and any instruments made under any other enactment and relating to customs,

(b) the statutes relating to the duties of excise and to the management of those duties, including any offence under section 1078 or 1078A in so far as those sections relate to excise, and any instruments made thereunder,

(c) (i) subsection (1A) and paragraphs (c), (d) and (ii) of subsection (2) of section 1078, and

(ii) section 1078A,

in so far as it is an offence relating to Chapter 2 of Part 18 and any instruments made under that Chapter, or

(d) (i) subsection (1A) and paragraphs (c) and (d) of subsection (2) of section 1078, and

(ii) section 1078A,

in so far as it is an offence relating to the Value-Added Tax Act 1972 , and the enactments amending or extending that Act and any instruments made thereunder,

which is an arrestable offence within the meaning of section 2 of the Criminal Law Act 1997 .

(2) This section shall apply to a specified offence only.

(3) Where a member of the Garda Síochána arrests without warrant, whether in a Garda station or elsewhere, a person whom he or she, with reasonable cause, suspects of committing or of having committed a specified offence and the person has been taken to and detained in a Garda station, or if the person is arrested in a Garda station, has been detained in the station, pursuant to section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 , an authorised officer or officers (but not more than 2 such officers) may, if and for so long as the officer or officers is, or are, accompanied by a member of the Garda Síochána, attend at, and participate in, the questioning of a person so detained in connection with the investigation of the specified offence, but only if the member of the Garda Síochána requests the authorised officer or officers to do so and the member is satisfied that the attendance at, and participation in, such questioning of the authorised officer or officers is necessary for the proper investigation of the specified offence concerned.

(4) An authorised officer who attends at, and participates in, the questioning of a person in accordance with subsection (3) may not commit any act or make any omission which, if committed or made by a member of the Garda Síochána, would be a contravention of any regulation made under section 7 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 .

(5) An act committed or omission made by an authorised officer who attends at, and participates in, the questioning of a person in accordance with subsection (3) which, if committed or made by a member of the Garda Síochána, would be a contravention of any regulation made under section 7 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 shall not of itself render the authorised officer liable to any criminal or civil proceedings or of itself affect the lawfulness of the custody of the detained person or the admissibility in evidence of any statement made by him or her.”.