PART VI

Extradition AND Other Matters

31. —(1) For the purposes of Part III of the Extradition Act, 1965, an offence punishable under the law of Northern Ireland by imprisonment for a maximum period of at least 6 months and triable either summarily or on indictment at the election of the prosecution shall be treated as follows:

(a) as an indictable offence and not also as a summary offence, if it is certified by the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland that the offence is so punishable and triable and that it will not be or, as the case may be, has not been prosecuted summarily;

(b) as a summary offence, if it is certified by the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland that the offence is so punishable and triable and that it will be or, as the case may be, has been prosecuted summarily.

(2) A certificate appearing to be given by the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland and certifying as to the matters mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (1) may, without further evidence—

(a) be accepted by the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, and

(b) be admitted in any proceedings, unless the court sees good reason to the contrary,

as evidence of the matters so certified.

(3) In this section “Director of Public Prosecutions” includes a person for the time being exercising the functions of that office.

(4) This section shall be construed as one with Part III of the Extradition Act, 1965.

32. —(1) For the purposes of Part III of the Extradition Act, 1965—

(a) an offence punishable under the law of Scotland by imprisonment for a maximum period of at least 6 months shall be treated as an indictable offence and not also as a summary offence if it is certified by a Procurator Fiscal that the offence is an indictable offence so punishable and that it will not be or, as the case may be, has not been prosecuted summarily, and

(b) an offence punishable under the law of Scotland by imprisonment for a maximum period of at least 6 months shall be treated as a summary offence if it is certified by a Procurator Fiscal that the offence will be or, as the case may be, has been prosecuted summarily, and that it is so punishable.

(2) A certificate appearing to be given by a Procurator Fiscal and certifying as to the matters mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (1) may, without further evidence—

(a) be accepted by the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, and

(b) be admitted in any proceedings, unless the court sees good reason to the contrary,

as evidence of the matters so certified.

(3) In this section “Procurator Fiscal” includes a Depute.

(4) This section shall be construed as one with Part III of the Extradition Act, 1965.

(5) Section 37 of the Act of 1967 is hereby repealed.

33. —(1) Section 3 of the Extradition Act, 1965, is hereby amended in the definition of “judge of the District Court assigned to the Dublin Metropolitan District” (inserted by the Extradition (Amendment) Act, 1994 ) by the deletion of “nominated for the purposes of this Act by the President of the District Court”.

(2) Section 4 of the Extradition (Amendment) Act, 1994 , is hereby amended by the deletion of subsection (2).

34. —Section 4 of the Act of 1984 is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution, in subsection (5) (as inserted by the Act of 1997), of “subject to subsection (5A)” for “subject to subsection (6)”, and

(b) by the renumbering of subsection (6) (as inserted by the Act of 1997) as subsection (5A).

35. — Section 1 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996 , is hereby amended by the deletion of the definition of “judge of the District Court”.

36. — Section 15 of the Offences against the State (Amendment) Act, 1998 , is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3):

“(3) Section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1883, inserted by section 4 of the Criminal Law (Jurisdiction) Act, 1976 , is hereby amended by the substitution of ‘shall be liable to a fine or imprisonment’ for ‘shall be liable to imprisonment’.”.

37. — Section 18 of the Offences against the State (Amendment) Act, 1998 , is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2):

“(2) A section referred to in subsection (1) may, by resolution of each House of the Oireachtas passed before the expiry of the section, be continued in operation from time to time for such period, not exceeding twelve months, as is specified in the resolutions.”.

38. —(1) In this section, “the ‘year and a day’ rule” means the rule of law that an act or omission is conclusively presumed not to have caused a person's death if more than a year and a day elapsed between the act or omission and the death.

(2) The “year and a day” rule is hereby abolished for all purposes, including—

(a) for the purposes of offences involving the death of a person, and

(b) for the purpose of determining whether a person committed suicide.

(3) Subsection (2) does not affect the continued application of the “year and a day” rule to any case where the act or omission, or the last of the acts or omissions, that caused the death occurred before the day on which this Act is passed.

39. —(1) Subject to subsection (2), in any proceedings on indictment for an offence (including proceedings under Part IA of the Act of 1967) a person other than the accused may, with the leave of the court, give evidence through a live television link.

(2) A court shall not grant leave under subsection (1) unless it is satisfied that the person is likely to be in fear or subject to intimidation in giving evidence otherwise.

(3) Evidence given under subsection (1) shall be videorecorded.

(4) In any proceedings referred to in subsection (1) in any circuit or district court district where the court is satisfied that leave should be granted for evidence to be given through a live television link pursuant to subsection (1) but the necessary facilities for doing so are not available in that circuit or district, the court may by order transfer the proceedings to a circuit or district court district where such facilities are available and, where such an order is made, the jurisdiction of the court to which the proceedings have been transferred may be exercised—

(a) in the case of the Circuit Court, by the judge of the circuit concerned, and

(b) in the case of the District Court, by the judge of that court for the time being assigned to the district court district concerned.

(5) Where evidence is given by a person (“the witness”) through a live television link pursuant to subsection (1)—

(a) in case evidence is given that the accused was known to the witness before the date on which the offence in question is alleged to have been committed, the witness shall not be required to identify the accused, unless the court in the interests of justice directs otherwise, and

(b) in any other case, evidence by a person other than the witness that the witness identified the accused as being the offender at an identification parade or by other means shall be admissible as evidence that the accused was so identified.

(6) This section is without prejudice to any other enactment providing for the giving of evidence through a live television link.

40. —(1) A person who without lawful authority makes enquiries or takes any other steps whatever, whether within or outside the State, for the purpose of discovering—

(a) the whereabouts of a person whom he or she knows, or reasonably suspects, to be a relocated witness, or

(b) any new name or other particulars related to any new identity provided for such a witness,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) A person who without lawful authority discloses, whether within or outside the State, to any other person any information (including information lawfully obtained pursuant to subsection (1)) concerning—

(a) the whereabouts of a person whom he or she knows, or reasonably suspects, to be a relocated witness, or

(b) any new name or other particulars related to any new identity provided for such a person,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) In this section “relocated witness” means any person who intends to give or has given evidence in proceedings for an offence and who as a consequence has moved residence, under any programme operated by the Garda Síochána for the protection of witnesses, to any place, whether within or outside the State.

(4) In this section “lawful authority” means the authority of—

(a) a court in any proceedings involving the relocated witness, or

(b) a member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of chief superintendent.

(5) A court shall give authority pursuant to subsection (1) or (2) only if it is satisfied—

(a) that to do so would be in the interests of justice, and

(b) that another way of proceeding which would not prejudice the continued participation of the relocated witness in the programme aforesaid, including, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the transmission of any documents required to be served on the witness to the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána for the purpose of effecting such service, is not available.

(6) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both, and

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or both.

41. —(1) Without prejudice to any provision made by any other enactment or rule of law, a person—

(a) who harms or threatens, menaces or in any other way intimidates or puts in fear another person who is assisting in the investigation by the Garda Síochána of an offence or is a witness or potential witness or a juror or potential juror in proceedings for an offence, or a member of his or her family,

(b) with the intention thereby of causing the investigation or the course of justice to be obstructed, perverted or interfered with,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) In this section, “potential juror” means a person who, at the time an offence under this section is alleged to have been committed, has been summoned for jury service but has not been empanelled as a juror to serve on a particular jury.

(3) In proceedings for an offence under this section, proof to the satisfaction of the court or jury, as the case may be, that the accused did an act referred to in subsection (1)(a) shall be evidence that the act was done with the intention required by subsection (1)(b).

(4) In subsection (1) the reference to a member of a person's family includes a reference to—

(a) the person's spouse,

(b) a parent, grandparent, step-parent, child (including a step-child or an adopted child), grandchild, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece of the person or his or her spouse, or

(c) any person who is cohabiting or residing with him or her.

(5) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both, and

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or both.

42. —(1) In this section—

“offence” means an arrestable offence as defined in section 2 of the Criminal Law Act, 1997 ;

“prison” means a place of custody administered by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform;

“prisoner” means a person who is in prison on foot of a sentence of imprisonment, on committal awaiting trial, on remand or otherwise.

(2) A member of the Garda Síochána may arrest a prisoner on the authority of 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 the following conditions are fulfilled—

(a) there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the prisoner has committed an offence other than an offence in respect of which he or she is imprisoned;

(b) the arrest of the prisoner is necessary for the proper investigation of the offence which he or she is suspected of having committed;

(c) where the prisoner has previously been arrested for the same offence, whether prior to his or her imprisonment or under this section, further relevant information has since come to the knowledge of the Garda Síochána.

(3) A person arrested under this section—

(a) shall be taken forthwith to a Garda Station and may, subject to subsection (5), be detained there for such period as is authorised under section 4 of the Act of 1984, and

(b) shall, subject to this section, be dealt with as though he or she had been detained under that section.

(4) Section 4(4), (5), (5A) and 10 of the Act of 1984 shall not apply to a person arrested and detained under this section.

(5) If at any time during the detention of a person under this section there are no longer reasonable grounds for—

(a) suspecting that the person has committed the offence in respect of which he or she was arrested under this section, or

(b) believing that his or her detention is necessary for the proper investigation of that offence,

the detention shall be terminated forthwith.

(6) On termination of the detention in accordance with subsection (5) or by reason of the expiry of the period referred to in subsection (3)(a) the member of the Garda Síochána in charge of the Garda Station where the person is detained shall transfer him or her, or cause him or her to be transferred, forthwith back into the custody of the governor of the prison where the person was imprisoned at the time of the arrest.

(7) This section shall not prejudice any power conferred by law apart from this section in relation to the arrest, detention or transfer of prisoners.