Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Act 2013

30.

Preservation of relevant material.

30.— (1) subsection (2) applies to a relevant person and relevant material—

(a) upon and after the establishment of a Part 2 inquiry and regardless of whether the relevant material came into the relevant person’s possession or control after the establishment of the inquiry, and

(b) before the establishment of the inquiry in circumstances where it can reasonably be inferred that the establishment of the inquiry must have been apprehended by the relevant person.

(2) The relevant person shall preserve the relevant material—

(a) until the finalisation of the final report of the Part 2 inquiry concerned or upon the termination of the inquiry, whichever first occurs, or

(b) if, before the final report has been finalised or before the termination of the inquiry—

(i) a tribunal is established to inquire into all or part of the matter the subject of the inquiry, until the tribunal has completed its inquiry, or

(ii) a commission is established to investigate all or part of the matter the subject of the inquiry, until the commission has completed its investigation.

(3) In this section—

“relevant material”, in relation to a Part 2 inquiry, means a document, or other information in any form, relating to any matter within the terms of reference for the inquiry;

“relevant person”, in relation to relevant material, means a person who has the relevant material in his or her possession or control.