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Restriction on evidence, etc., of certain persons.
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15.—(1) A civil servant or a member of the Permanent Defence Force or the Garda Síochána shall not—
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(a) while giving evidence to a committee, question or express an opinion on the merits of any policy of the Government or a Minister of the Government or the Attorney General or on the merits of the objectives of such a policy, or
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(b) produce or send to a committee a specified document in which a civil servant or a member of the Permanent Defence Force or the Garda Síochána questions or expresses an opinion on the merits of any such policy or such objectives as aforesaid.
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(2) (a) Notwithstanding subsection (1), where—
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(i) a specified person is directed by a committee to produce or send a specified document to it or to attend before it to produce a specified document to it, and
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(ii) the appropriate person is satisfied that a part, but not the whole, of the document consists of questioning by a specified person of, or the expression by a specified person of an opinion on, the merits of such a policy, or such objectives, as aforesaid,
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the appropriate person shall direct the specified person in writing to produce or, as may be appropriate, send to the committee a copy, prepared under the supervision of the appropriate person, of so much of the document as does not consist of the part aforesaid and the specified person shall comply with the direction.
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(b) A document prepared pursuant to paragraph (a) shall be signed by the appropriate person concerned and shall contain a statement to the effect that it is prepared pursuant to this subsection and is a copy of so much of the specified document to which the direction concerned relates as does not consist of the part in which the merits of such a policy, or such objectives, as aforesaid are questioned, or an opinion thereon is expressed, by a specified person.
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(c) A document that is produced or sent to a committee pursuant to a direction of the committee and purports to be a document prepared pursuant to this subsection and to comply with paragraph (b) shall be deemed, unless the contrary is shown, to be a copy of so much of the specified document to which the direction relates as does not consist of the part in which the merits of such a policy, or such objectives, as aforesaid are questioned, or an opinion thereon is expressed, by a specified person.
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(3) In this section—
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“appropriate person”—
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(i) in relation to a specified person who is a civil servant, means the principal officer of the Department of State or other branch or office of the public service in which the specified person is employed,
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(ii) in relation to a specified person who is a member of the Defence Forces, means the Secretary of the Department of Defence, and
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(iii) in relation to a specified person who is a member of the Garda Síochána, means the Secretary of the Department of Justice;
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“specified document” means a document that is the subject of a direction for the purposes of particular proceedings of a committee and that was created before the commencement of those proceedings;
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“specified person” means a person who is a civil servant or a member of the Permanent Defence Force or the Garda Síochána.
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(4) This section does not apply to the Director of Consumer Affairs.
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