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Number 22 of 1970
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COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS OF DAIL EIREANN (PRIVILEGE AND PROCEDURE) ACT, 1970
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ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
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Number 22 of 1970
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COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS OF DAIL EIREANN (PRIVILEGE AND PROCEDURE) ACT, 1970
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AN ACT TO MAKE PROVISION REGARDING PRIVILEGE, IMMUNITY AND PROCEDURE IN RELATION TO THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS OF DAIL EIREANN IN THE PERFORMANCE OF CERTAIN OF ITS FUNCTIONS. [23rd December, 1970.]
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
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Definition.
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1.—In this Act “the committee” means the Committee of Public Accounts of Dáil Éireann while engaged in the performance of the functions assigned to it by order of Dáil Éireann made on the 1st day of December, 1970.
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Privilege and immunity of the committee.
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2.—(1) The members of the committee shall not, in respect of any utterance in the committee, be amenable to any court or any authority other than Dáil Éireann.
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(2) (a) The documents of the committee and the documents of its members connected with the committee or its functions,
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(b) all official reports and publications of the committee, and
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(c) the utterances in the committee of the members, advisers, officials and agents of the committee,
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wherever published shall be privileged.
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Power of the committee to summon witnesses.
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3.—(1) The committee may for the purposes of its functions do all or any of the following things—
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(a) Summon witnesses, by letters delivered to them personally or by registered post, to attend before it,
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(b) examine the witnesses attending before it,
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(c) require any such witness to produce to the committee, or require any person, by letter delivered to him personally or by registered post, to send to the committee, any document in his power or control.
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(2) A witness before the committee and a person sending a document to the committee shall be entitled to the same immunities and privileges as if he were a witness before the High Court.
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(3) A summons shall be signed by at least one member of the committee.
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(4) If any person—
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(a) on being duly summoned as a witness before the committee makes default in attending, or
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(b) being in attendance as a witness before the committee refuses to take an oath or to make an affirmation when legally required by the committee to do so, or to produce any document in his power or control legally required by the committee to be produced by him or to answer any question to which the committee may legally require an answer, or
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(c) fails or refuses to send to the committee any document in his power or control legally required by the committee to be sent to it by the person, or
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(d) does anything which would, if the committee were a court of justice having power to commit for contempt of court, be contempt of such court,
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the committee may certify the offence of that person under the hand of the chairman of the committee to the High Court and the High Court may, after such inquiry as it thinks proper to make, punish or take steps for the punishment of that person in like manner as if he had been guilty of contempt of the High Court.
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Short title.
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4.—This Act may be cited as the Committee of Public Accounts of Dáil Éireann (Privilege and Procedure) Act, 1970.
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