Criminal Justice (Release of Prisoners) Act, 1998

Function of the Commission.

3.—(1) The function of the Commission shall be to advise, on being requested to do so under subsection (2) of this section, the Minister with respect to the exercise, by reference to the relevant provisions, of any power of release in relation to prisoners mentioned in that subsection.

(2) The Minister shall, from time to time as he or she considers appropriate, request the Commission to give advice with respect to the exercise, by reference to the relevant provisions, of any power referred to in subsection (1) of this section in relation to persons specified by the Minister to be qualifying prisoners for the purposes of those provisions (in this Act referred to as “qualifying prisoners”) and the Commission shall comply with such a request.

(3) The Commission may, if it considers it necessary to do so for the purpose of performing its function under this Act, request the Minister to furnish to it information specified in the request, being information that is in the possession of the Minister or may reasonably be procured by him or her, and the Minister shall comply with such a request.

(4) In this section “relevant provisions” means those provisions of the Agreement Reached in the Multi-Party Talks which appear under the heading “Prisoners” in that Agreement and which, for convenience of reference, are set out in the Schedule to this Act.