Commissions of Investigation Act 2004
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Amendment of terms of reference and accompanying statement. |
6.—(1) The power to set a commission's terms of reference includes the power to amend, at any time before the submission of the commission's final report, those terms with the consent or at the request of the commission for the purpose of clarifying, limiting or extending the scope of its investigation. | |
(2) A commission may not consent to or request an amendment of its terms of reference if satisfied that the proposed amendment would prejudice the legal rights of any person who has co-operated with or provided information to the commission in the investigation. | ||
(3) No consent or request is required for the amendment of a commission's terms of reference under section 44 (2). | ||
(4) The requirements of section 5 (1) apply with any necessary modifications to the amendment of a commission's terms of reference as it applies to the setting of those terms. | ||
(5) The specified Minister shall ensure that the statement accompanying a commission's terms of reference is revised if, as a consequence of an amendment of those terms under this section or section 44 (2), either or both of the following contents of the statement are no longer appropriate: | ||
(a) the estimate of the costs (including legal costs) to be incurred by the commission in conducting the investigation and preparing its reports; | ||
(b) the time frame for the submission of the commission's final report. | ||
(6) Even though a commission's terms of reference are not amended, the specified Minister may, at the commission's request, revise the time frame for the submission of its final report to the extent consistent with the objective of having the investigation conducted and the report submitted as expeditiously as a proper consideration of the matter referred to the commission permits. | ||
(7) The specified Minister shall ensure that, as soon as possible after a commission's terms of reference are amended or the accompanying statement is revised or both of those things are done, the amended terms, the revised statement or both, as the case may be, are published in— | ||
(a) Iris Oifigiúil, and | ||
(b) each newspaper or other publication in which the original terms were published under section 5 (2)(b). |