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PART 4
Amendments concerning detention and re-arrest powers
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Amendment of sections 30 and 30A of Act of 1939.
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21.— (1) Section 30 of the Act of 1939 is amended—
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(a) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (3):
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“(3A) If at any time during the detention of a person pursuant to this section a member of the Garda Síochána, with reasonable cause, suspects that person of having committed an offence (the ‘other offence ’) referred to in subsection (1) of this section, being an offence other than the offence to which the detention relates, and—
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(a) the member of the Garda Síochána then in charge of the Garda Síochána station, or
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(b) in case the person is being detained in a place of detention, other than a Garda Síochána station, an officer of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of inspector who is not investigating the offence to which the detention relates or the other offence,
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has reasonable grounds for believing that the continued detention of the person is necessary for the proper investigation of the other offence, the person may continue to be detained in relation to the other offence as if that offence was the offence for which the person was originally detained, but nothing in this subsection authorises the detention of the person for a period that is longer than the period which is authorised by or under the other provisions of this section.”,
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(b) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (4B):
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“(4BA) (a) Without prejudice to paragraph (b) of this subsection, where a judge hearing an application under subsection (4) of this section is satisfied, in order to avoid a risk of prejudice to the investigation concerned, that it is desirable to do so, he may—
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(i) direct that the application be heard otherwise than in public, or
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(ii) exclude from the Court during the hearing all persons except officers of the Court, persons directly concerned in the proceedings, bona fide representatives of the Press and such other persons as the Court may permit to remain.
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(b) On the hearing of an application under subsection (4) of this section, the judge may, of his own motion or on application by the officer of the Garda Síochána making the application under that subsection (4), where it appears that—
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(i) particular evidence to be given by any member of the Garda Síochána during the hearing (including evidence by way of answer to a question asked of the member in cross-examination) concerns steps that have been, or may be, taken in the course of any inquiry or investigation being conducted by the Garda Síochána with respect to the suspected involvement of the person to whom the application relates, or any other person, in the commission of the offence to which the detention relates or any other offence, and
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(ii) the nature of those steps is such that the giving of that evidence concerning them could prejudice, in a material respect, the proper conducting of any foregoing inquiry or investigation,
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direct that, in the public interest, the particular evidence shall be given in the absence of every person, including the person to whom the application relates and any legal representative (whether of that person or the applicant), other than—
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(I) the member or members whose attendance is necessary for the purpose of giving the evidence to the judge; and
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(II) if the judge deems it appropriate, such one or more of the clerks of the Court as the judge determines.
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(c) If, having heard such evidence given in that manner, the judge considers the disclosure of the matters to which that evidence relates would not have the effect referred to in paragraph (b)(ii) of this subsection, the judge shall direct the evidence to be re-given in the presence of all the other persons (or, as the case may be, those of them not otherwise excluded from the Court under paragraph (a) of this subsection).
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(d) No person shall publish or broadcast or cause to be published or broadcast any information about an application under subsection (4) of this section other than a statement of—
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(i) the fact that the application has been made by the Garda Síochána in relation to a particular investigation, and
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(ii) any decision resulting from the application.
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(e) If any matter is published or broadcast in contravention of paragraph (d) of this subsection, the following persons, namely—
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(i) in the case of a publication in a newspaper or periodical, any proprietor, any editor and any publisher of the newspaper or periodical,
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(ii) in the case of any other publication, the person who publishes it, and
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(iii) in the case of a broadcast, any person who transmits or provides the programme in which the broadcast is made and any person having functions in relation to the programme corresponding to those of the editor of a newspaper,
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shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—
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(I) on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both, or
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(II) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.
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(f) In this subsection—
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‘ broadcast ’ means the transmission, relaying or distribution by wireless telegraphy, cable or the internet of communications, sounds, signs, visual images or signals, intended for direct reception by the general public whether such communications, sounds, signs, visual images or signals are actually received or not;
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‘ publish ’ means publish, other than by way of broadcast, to the public or a portion of the public.
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(4BB) Save where any rule of law requires such an issue to be determined by the Court, in an application under subsection (4) of this section no issue as to the lawfulness of the arrest or detention of the person to whom the application relates may be raised.
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(4BC) (a) In an application under subsection (4) of this section it shall not be necessary for a member of the Garda Síochána, other than the officer making the application, to give oral evidence for the purposes of the application and the latter officer may testify in relation to any matter within the knowledge of another member of the Garda Síochána that is relevant to the application notwithstanding that it is not within the personal knowledge of the officer.
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(b) However, the Court hearing such an application may, if it considers it to be in the interests of justice to do so, direct that another member of the Garda Síochána give oral evidence and the Court may adjourn the hearing of the application for the purpose of receiving such evidence.”,
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(c) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (4D):
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“(4D) If—
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(a) an application is to be made, or is made, under subsection (4) of this section for a warrant authorising the detention for a further period of a person detained pursuant to a direction under subsection (3) of this section, and
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(b) the period of detention under subsection (3) of this section has not expired at the time of the arrival of the person concerned at the court house for the purposes of the hearing of the application but would, but for this subsection, expire before, or during the hearing (including, if such should occur, any adjournment of the hearing),
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it shall be deemed not to expire until the final determination of the application; and, for purposes of this subsection—
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(i) a certificate signed by the court clerk in attendance at the court house concerned stating the time of the arrival of the person concerned at that court house shall be evidence, until the contrary is shown, of the time of that person’s arrival there;
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(ii) ‘ court house ’ includes any venue at which the hearing of the application takes place.”.
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(2) Section 30A of the Act of 1939 is amended by substituting the following subsections for subsection (1):
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“(1) Where a person arrested on suspicion of having committed an offence is detained pursuant to section 30 of this Act and is released without any charge having been made against him, he shall not—
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(a) be arrested again in connection with the offence to which the detention related, or
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(b) be arrested for any other offence of which, at the time of the first arrest, the member of the Garda Síochána by whom he was arrested, suspected, or ought reasonably to have suspected, him of having committed,
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except under the authority of a warrant issued by a judge of the District Court who is satisfied on information supplied on oath by a member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of superintendent that either of the following cases apply, namely—
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(i) further information has come to the knowledge of the Garda Síochána since the person’s release as to his suspected participation in the offence for which his arrest is sought,
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(ii) notwithstanding that the Garda Síochána had knowledge, prior to the person’s release, of the person’s suspected participation in the offence for which his arrest is sought, the questioning of the person in relation to that offence, prior to his release, would not have been in the interests of the proper investigation of the offence.
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(1A) An application for a warrant under this section shall be heard otherwise than in public.”.
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(3) Section 30A of the Act of 1939 is further amended, in subsection (2)(b), by substituting “(4B), (4BA), (4BB), (4BC)’’ for “(4B)’’.
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