Garda Síochána (Amendment) Act 2015

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Amendment of Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Act 2009

13. The Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Act 2009 is amended—

(a) in section 1—

(i) in the definition of “relevant Minister”, by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):

“(a) the Minister—

(i) in relation to approvals granted by a superior officer of, and documents and information in the custody of, the Garda Síochána, and

(ii) in relation to approvals granted by a superior officer of, and documents and information in the custody of, the Ombudsman Commission,”,

(ii) in the definition of “superior officer”, by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (a):

“(aa) in the case of the Ombudsman Commission, a member of the Ombudsman Commission other than its chairperson;”,

(iii) by the insertion of the following definitions:

“ ‘chairperson’, in relation to the Ombudsman Commission, means the member of the Ombudsman Commission who is appointed or acting as its chairperson under section 65 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 ;

‘designated officer of the Ombudsman Commission’ means—

(a) an officer of the Ombudsman Commission, or

(b) a person engaged by the Ombudsman Commission under section 74 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 ,

who is designated by the Ombudsman Commission under section 73 of that Act for the purpose of performing functions under any provisions of Part 4 of that Act;

‘member of the Ombudsman Commission’ means a member of the Ombudsman Commission appointed under section 65 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 ;

‘Ombudsman Commission’ means the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission;”,

(b) in section 2—

(i) in subsection (1), by the insertion of “designated officers of the Ombudsman Commission,” after “members of the Garda Síochána,”, and

(ii) in subsection (4)(b), by the insertion of “or designated officers of the Ombudsman Commission” after “members of the Garda Síochána”,

(c) in section 3, by the insertion of “a designated officer of the Ombudsman Commission,” after “A member of the Garda Síochána,”,

(d) in section 4—

(i) in subsection (1), by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1):

“(1A) A superior officer of the Ombudsman Commission may apply to a judge for an authorisation where he or she has reasonable grounds for believing that as part of an investigation being conducted by the Ombudsman Commission concerning an arrestable offence, the surveillance being sought to be authorised is necessary for the purposes of obtaining information as to whether the offence has been committed or as to the circumstances relating to the commission of the offence, or obtaining evidence for the purposes of proceedings in relation to the offence.”,

and

(ii) in subsection (5), by the substitution of “subsection (1), (1A), (2), (3) or (4) ” for “subsection (1), (2), (3) or (4) ”,

(e) in section 5—

(i) in subsection (2)(a), by the substitution of “the requirements specified in subsection (1), (1A), (2) or (3), as the case may be, of section 4” for “the requirements specified in subsection (1), (2) or (3), as the case may be, of section 4”, and

(ii) in subsection (7), by the insertion of “any designated officer of the Ombudsman Commission,” after “any member of the Garda Síochána,”,

(f) in section 7—

(i) in subsection (1), by the insertion of “a designated officer of the Ombudsman Commission,” after “A member of the Garda Síochána,”,

(ii) in subsection (2), by the substitution of “the requirements of subsection (1), (1A), (2) or (3), as the case may be, of section 4” for “the requirements of subsection (1), (2) or (3), as the case may be, of section 4”,

(iii) in subsection (7)(c), by the insertion of “designated officer of the Ombudsman Commission,” after “the member of the Garda Síochána,”, and

(iv) in subsection (12), by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (a):

“(aa) in the case of a designated officer of the Ombudsman Commission, the chairperson of the Ombudsman Commission,”,

(g) in section 8—

(i) in subsection (1), by the insertion of “a designated officer of the Ombudsman Commission,” after “a member of the Garda Síochána,”,

(ii) in subsection (2)(a), by the substitution of “the requirements of subsection (1), (1A), (2) or (3), as the case may be, of section 4” for “the requirements of subsection (1), (2) or (3), as the case may be, of section 4”,

(iii) in subsection (7)(c), by the insertion of “designated officer of the Ombudsman Commission,” after “the member of the Garda Síochána,”, and

(iv) in subsection (10), by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (a):

“(aa) in the case of a designated officer of the Ombudsman Commission, the chairperson of the Ombudsman Commission,”,

(h) in section 11—

(i) in subsection (2), by the insertion of “a person who” before “receives a report under section 7(12) or 8(10)”,

(ii) in subsection (5)(c) —

(I) in subparagraph (i), by the substitution of “the Ombudsman Commission” for “the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission”, and

(II) by the insertion of the following subparagraph after subparagraph (i):

“(ia) the Minister, in the case of a contravention by the Ombudsman Commission,”,

and

(iii) in subsection (10), by the insertion of “the Ombudsman Commission,” after “a place under the control of”,

(i) in section 12(5), by the insertion of “the Ombudsman Commission,” after “a place under the control of”,

(j) in section 13(4) —

(i) in paragraph (d)(i) of the definition of “authorised person”, by the insertion of “the chairperson of the Ombudsman Commission,” after “the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána,”, and

(ii) in the definition of “relevant person”—

(I) in paragraph (a), by the insertion of “a designated officer of the Ombudsman Commission,” after “a member of the Garda Síochána,”,

(II) by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (b):

“(ba) an officer of the Ombudsman Commission other than a designated officer of the Ombudsman Commission,”,

and

(III) in paragraph (e), by the insertion of “the Ombudsman Commission,” after “the Garda Síochána,”,

(k) in section 14—

(i) in subsection (4)(a), by the insertion of “designated officer of the Ombudsman Commission,” after “any member of the Garda Síochána,”, and

(ii) in subsection (5), by the insertion of “a designated officer of the Ombudsman Commission,” after “a member of the Garda Síochána,”,

and

(l) in section 15(2)(c), by the insertion of “the Ombudsman Commission,” after “the operations of the Garda Síochána,”.