Garda Síochána (Amendment) Act 2015

Garda Síochána (Amendment) Act 2015 Skip to content Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Gaeilge Léim go dtí an t-ábhar Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach English Gaeilge English Produced by the Office of the Attorney General Táirgthe ag Oifig an Ard-Aighne Home Legislation Acts of the Oireachtas Statutory Instruments Pre-1922 Legislation Constitution External Resources Bills (Houses of the Oireachtas) Iris Oifigiúil / Official Gazette Revised Acts (LRC) Classified List of Legislation (LRC) Translations (acts.ie) Translations (Houses of the Oireachtas) Government Publications for Sale EU Law (EUR-Lex) FAQ Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Search Baile Reachtaíocht Achtanna an Oireachtais Ionstraimí Reachtúla Reachtaíocht Réamh-1922 Bunreacht Acmhainní Seachtracha Billí (Tithe an Oireachtais) Iris Oifigiúil Achtanna Athbhreithnithe (CAD) (An Coimisiún um Athchóiriú an Dlí) Liosta Rangaithe Reachtaíochta Aistriúcháin (achtanna.ie) Aistriúcháin (Tithe an Oireachtais) Foilseacháin Rialtais ar Díol Dlí AE (EUR-Lex) CCanna (Ceisteanna Coitianta) Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach Cuardach TitleTeideal Year(s) or rangeBliain nó blianta nó raon TypeCineál All Legislation Acts Statutory Instruments Advanced SearchCuardach Casta HomeBaile ActsAchtanna 2015 Garda Síochána (Amendment) Act 2015 Garda Síochána (Amendment) Act 2015 Permanent Page URL View by SectionAmharc de réir Ailt View Full ActAmharc ar an Acht Iomlán Bill History Stair Bille Commencement, Amendments, SIs made under the Act Tosach Feidhme, Leasuithe, IRí arna ndéanamh faoin Acht Open PDFOscail PDF Print Full ActPriontáil an tAcht Iomlán Number 3 of 2015 Garda Síochána (Amendment) Act 2015 CONTENTS Section

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

Section 8

Section 9

Section 10

Section 11

Section 12

Section 13

Section 14

Definition 1. In this Act “Principal Act” means the Garda Síochána Act 2005 .

Amendment of section 67(2)(e) of Principal Act 2. Section 67(2)(e) of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of “or 102B” after “in accordance with section 102”.

Amendment of section 74(3) of Principal Act 3. Section 74(3) of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of “or 102B” after “as applied by section 102”.

Amendment of section 84(1) of Principal Act 4. Section 84(1) of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of “within the period of 12 months” for “within the period of 6 months”.

Amendment of section 98(5) of Principal Act 5. Section 98(5) of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “enactment”: “‘enactment’ means a statute or statutory instrument, whether passed or made before or after the passing of this Act or any portion of such a statute or statutory instrument, but does not include any provision of the Offences against the State Acts 1939 to 1998;”.

Amendment of section 102 of Principal Act 6. Section 102 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (5), by the substitution of “any matter that gives rise to a concern” for “any matter that appears to the Minister to indicate”, and (b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (5): “(5A) The Ombudsman Commission may investigate a matter under subsection (4) or (5) even if— (a) the identity of the member of the Garda Síochána concerned may not be known when the investigation is undertaken, or (b) the offence or behaviour concerned may also involve or have involved a person who is not a member of the Garda Síochána.”.

Investigation of matters relating to Garda Commissioner by Ombudsman Commission 7. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 102A (inserted by section 19 of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 ): “102B. (1) The Ombudsman Commission may, if it appears to it desirable in the public interest to do so and subject to the consent of the Minister given with the approval of the Government, investigate any matter that gives rise to a concern that the Garda Commissioner may have— (a) committed an offence, or (b) behaved in a manner that would constitute serious misconduct.

Amendment of section 103 of Principal Act 8. Section 103 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (1)(b) — (i) in subparagraph (i), by the insertion of “if his or her identity is known” after “the subject matter of the investigation”, and (ii) in subparagraph (iv), by the substitution of “a sufficient interest in the matter;” for “a sufficient interest in the matter.”, and (b) in subsection (1), by the addition of the following paragraph: “(c) if the investigation is one to which section 102B applies— (i) the Garda Commissioner, (ii) the Minister, and (iii) any other person that the Commission considers has a sufficient interest in the matter.”.

Provision of information to Ombudsman Commission 9. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 103: “103A. The Garda Commissioner shall ensure that information to be provided by the Garda Síochána to the Ombudsman Commission for the purposes of an investigation by the Commission of a complaint, or an investigation by the Commission of any matter under section 102 or 102B, is so provided as soon as practicable.”.

Examination of certain practices, policies and procedures of Garda Síochána 10. The Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following section for section 106: “106. (1) For the purpose of preventing complaints arising in relation to a practice, policy or procedure of the Garda Síochána or of reducing the incidence of such complaints— (a) the Ombudsman Commission may, if it considers it appropriate to do so, or (b) the Commission shall, if so requested by the Minister within such period as he or she may specify in the request, examine the practice, policy or procedure.

Amendment of section 117(2) of Principal Act 11. Section 117(2) of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a): “(a) in furtherance of its objective to carry out, if it considers it appropriate to do so or at the request of the Minister, inspections or inquiries in relation to any particular aspects of the operation and administration of the Garda Síochána,”.

Amendment of Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) Act 1993 12. The Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) Act 1993 is amended— (a) in section 1, by the insertion of the following definition: “ ‘the chairperson of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission’ means the member of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission who is appointed or acting as its chairperson under section 65 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 ;”, (b) in section 4(a) — (i) in subparagraph (i)(I), by the insertion of “or the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission” after “by the Garda Síochána”, (ii) in subparagraph (ii), by the substitution of the following clause for clause (I): “(I) in the case of a serious offence that is apprehended but has not been committed, investigations are being carried out— (A) for the purpose of preventing the commission of the offence, by the Garda Síochána or another public authority charged with the prevention of offences of the kind in question, or (B) for the purpose of enabling the offence to be detected, if it is committed, by the Garda Síochána or the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission or another public authority charged with the investigation of offences of the kind in question,”, (c) in section 6(1)(a), by the substitution of the following subparagraph for subparagraph (i): “(i) in case the authorisation is for the purpose of criminal investigation, either by— (I) the Commissioner, or (II) the chairperson of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, and”, (d) in section 7, by the insertion of “, the chairperson of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission” after “the Commissioner”, and (e) in section 10(2)(d)(i), by the insertion of “or any person engaged by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission under section 74 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 who is designated by it under section 73 of that Act to perform functions under any provisions of Part 4 of that Act” after “the Garda Síochána”.

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,”.

Short title, collective citations and commencement 14. (1) This Act may be cited as the Garda Síochána (Amendment) Act 2015.

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