Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act 2005

Offences against internationally protected persons.

11.—(1) Subject to subsections (3) and (4), a person is guilty of an offence if he or she does outside the State—

(a) an act to, or in relation to, an internationally protected person that, if done in the State, would constitute an offence specified in Part 1 of Schedule 6 , or

(b) an act in connection with an attack on the official premises, the private accommodation or any means of transportation of an internationally protected person that, if done in the State, would constitute an offence specified in Part 2 of Schedule 6 .

(2) Subject to subsections (3) and (4), a person is guilty of an offence if he or she—

(a) attempts to commit an act that is an offence under subsection (1), or

(b) makes a threat to commit an act that is an offence under subsection (1) and intends the person to whom the threat is made to fear that it will be carried out.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) apply to an act committed outside the State if the act is committed—

(a) on board an Irish ship,

(b) on an aircraft registered in the State,

(c) by a citizen of Ireland, or

(d) against a person who enjoys the status of an internationally protected person by virtue of functions exercised on behalf of the State.

(4) Subsections (1) and (2) apply also to an act committed outside the State in circumstances other than those referred to in subsection (3), but in that case the Director of Public Prosecutions may not take, or consent to the taking of, proceedings referred to in section 43 (2) for an offence in respect of that act except as authorised by section 43 (3).

(5) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on conviction to—

(a) in the case of an offence under subsection (1) or (2) (a), the penalty to which he or she would have been liable had the act that constitutes the offence been committed in the State, or

(b) in the case of an offence under subsection (2)(b), imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years.

(6) Subject to subsection (7), a word or expression that is used in this section has the same meaning as in the Internationally Protected Persons Convention.

(7) In this section “internationally protected person” means, in relation to an offence under subsection (1) or (2)

(a) a person who, at the time of the commission of the offence—

(i) is a Head of State, a member of a body that performs the functions of a Head of State under the constitution of a state, a Head of Government or a Minister for Foreign Affairs, and

(ii) is outside the territory of the state in which he or she holds office,

(b) a person who does not fall within paragraph (a) and who, at the time of the commission of the offence—

(i) is a representative or official of a state or an official or agent of an international organisation of an intergovernmental character, and

(ii) is entitled under international law to protection from attack on his or her person, freedom or dignity,

or

(c) a person who, at the time of the commission of the offence—

(i) is a member of the family of a person mentioned in paragraph (a) and is accompanying him or her, or

(ii) is a member of the family and of the household of a person mentioned in paragraph (b).