Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Act 2009

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Authorisation.

5.— (1) An application under section 4 for an authorisation and under section 6 for a variation or renewal of an authorisation—

(a) shall be made ex parte and shall be heard otherwise than in public, and

(b) may be made to a judge assigned to any district court district.

(2) Subject to subsection (4), the judge shall issue such authorisation as he or she considers reasonable, if satisfied by information on oath of the superior officer concerned that—

(a) the requirements specified in subsection (1), (2) or (3), as the case may be, of section 4 are fulfilled, and

(b) to do so is justified, having regard to the matters referred to in section 4 (5) and all other relevant circumstances.

(3) An information on oath of a superior officer specifying the grounds for his or her belief that the surveillance is necessary for the purpose of preventing the commission of arrestable offences referred to in section 4 (1) (b), or the commission of revenue offences referred to in section 4 (3) (b), need not specify a particular arrestable offence or a particular revenue offence, as the case may be, in respect of which the authorisation is being sought.

(4) The judge shall not issue an authorisation if he or she is satisfied that the surveillance being sought to be authorised is likely to relate primarily to communications protected by privilege.

(5) An authorisation may impose such conditions in respect of the surveillance authorised as the judge considers appropriate.

(6) An authorisation shall be in writing and shall specify—

(a) particulars of the surveillance device that is authorised to be used,

(b) the person who, or the place or thing that, is to be the subject of the surveillance,

(c) the name of the superior officer to whom it is issued,

(d) the conditions (if any) subject to which the authorisation is issued, and

(e) the date of expiry of the authorisation.

(7) An authorisation may authorise the superior officer named in it, or any member of the Garda Síochána, any member of the Defence Forces or any officer of the Revenue Commissioners designated by that superior officer, accompanied by any other person whom he or she considers necessary, to enter, if necessary by the use of reasonable force, any place for the purposes of initiating or carrying out the authorised surveillance, and withdrawing the authorised surveillance device, without the consent of a person who owns or is in charge of the place.

(8) An authorisation shall expire on the day fixed by the judge that he or she considers reasonable in the circumstances and that is not later than 3 months from the day on which it is issued.

(9) Subject to any conditions imposed by the judge under subsection (5), an authorisation shall have effect both within the district court district to which the judge is assigned and in any other part of the State.