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National unit.
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3.—(1) For the purposes of this Act and the Convention, the Minister, following consultation with the Commissioner, shall by order designate a unit within the Garda Síochána, to be known as the “national unit”.
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(2) The national unit shall operate under the control and general superintendence of the Commissioner.
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(3) The Commissioner may assign such and so many members of the Garda Síochána to be members of the national unit as the Commissioner from time to time thinks fit.
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(4) The Commissioner shall assign the management of the national unit to a member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of Chief Superintendent and the member so assigned shall be known as the “Head of the national unit”.
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(5) The Commissioner may assign other duties to the Head of the national unit during his or her assignment as such.
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(6) (a) The Minister, after consultation with the Commissioner, the Minister for Finance and any other Minister of the Government as the Minister considers appropriate in the circumstances and, in relation to officers of customs and excise, with the Revenue Commissioners, may, from time to time, appoint such and so many persons who are not members of the Garda Síochána to be members of the national unit.
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(b) The appointment of persons under paragraph (a) shall be on such conditions as may be agreed with the Minister for Finance.
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(7) A member of the Garda Síochána or an officer of customs and excise, who is a member of the national unit, notwithstanding his or her appointment as such, shall continue to be vested with and may exercise or perform the powers or duties of a member of the Garda Síochána or an officer of customs and excise as may be appropriate, for purposes other than the purposes of this Act, as well as for the purposes of this Act.
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(8) Unless the context otherwise requires or the Minister by order otherwise provides, the references in the Convention to a Member State (whether specific or general) shall, in so far as those references apply to the State, be construed and have effect as if they were references to the national unit.
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(9) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order under subsection (1) or (8) (including an order under this subsection).
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