Committees of the Houses of the Oireachtas (Compellability, Privileges and Immunities of Witnesses) Act, 1997

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Exemption of certain evidence, etc., from section 3 .

5.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, a committee (“Oireachtas Committee”) may not direct a person to give evidence, or produce or send a document, to it or attend before it to give evidence, or produce a document, to it—

(a) relating to discussions at a meeting of the Government or a committee appointed by the Government whose membership consists of members of the Government,

(b) relating to discussions at a meeting of a committee appointed by the Government whose membership consists of one or more members of the Government together with any of the following, that is to say, one or more Ministers of State and the Attorney General if—

(i) the holding of the meeting was authorised by the Government,

(ii) the proceedings of the meeting were required by the Government to be reported to them, and

(iii) the Secretary to the Government so states in a document signed by him or her and furnished to the Oireachtas Committee concerned,

(c) if the evidence or document could, if given, sent or produced to it, reasonably be expected to prejudice a matter the subject of proceedings currently before a court in the State,

(d) if the evidence or document could, if given, sent or produced to it, reasonably be expected to affect adversely the security of the State or to be prejudicial to the State in its relations with other States,

(e) if the evidence or document could, if given, sent or produced to it, reasonably be expected to prejudice or impair the prevention, detection or investigation of offences, the apprehension or prosecution of offenders or the effectiveness of lawful methods, systems, plans or procedures employed for the purposes of the matters aforesaid, or

(f) relating to information kept for the purpose of assessing the liability of a person in respect of a tax or duty or other payment owed or payable to the State, a local authority (within the meaning of the Local Government Act, 1941 ) or a health board or for the purpose of collecting an amount due in respect of such a tax or duty or other payment.

(2) Where a direction is given under section 3 in relation to evidence or a document and—

(a) the person to whom it is given is of opinion that the evidence or document could if given, produced or sent to the committee concerned, reasonably be expected to prejudice proceedings currently before a court in the State and so informs the committee, or

(b) a person who is a party to any such proceedings is of opinion that the evidence or document could, if given, produced or sent as aforesaid, reasonably be expected to prejudice the proceedings and so informs the committee,

then—

(i) if the committee does not withdraw the direction—

(I) the person may, not later than 21 days after being informed by the committee of its decision not to do so, apply to the High Court in a summary manner for the determination of the question whether the evidence or document could, if given, produced or sent as aforesaid, reasonably be expected to prejudice the proceedings aforesaid, or

(II) the chairperson of the committee may, on behalf of the committee, make such an application,

(ii) if such an application is made, the committee shall, if necessary, adjourn the proceedings concerned for such period as it considers requisite and the High Court shall determine the question aforesaid, and

(iii) if the High Court determines that the evidence or document could, if given, produced or sent to the committee, prejudice the proceedings, the committee shall withdraw the direction.

(3) A committee may not direct a member of either House of the Oireachtas to give evidence, or produce or send a document, to it or attend before it to give evidence, or produce a document, to it, relating to the source of any information contained in an utterance by the member in either such House or at a meeting of a committee referred to in section 2 or any other committee.

(4) A meeting of persons who subsequently constitute the membership or part of the membership of a committee appointed pursuant to subsection (1)(b) shall not be regarded, for the purposes of this section, as a meeting of that committee.