11.—(1) Where a request is made under section 7, and—

(a) the record concerned was prepared solely for the information of either or both of the Houses of the Oireachtas or a committee of either or both of such Houses and copies of the record are intended to be laid before either or both of such Houses or given to such a committee or otherwise published to members of either or both of such Houses or such a committee on a day falling within a reasonable period after the receipt by the head concerned of the request (“the specified day”), or

(b) information contained in the record concerned falls within paragraph (b), (d) or (e) of section 20 (2) and the giving of access to the record on or before a particular day (“the specified day”) would, in the opinion of the head concerned, be contrary to the public interest, or

(c) the record concerned is held by a public body, being a Department of State or the Office of the Tánaiste and the Minister of the Government in whom functions in relation to the public body are vested considers that the record or part thereof or any matter to which it relates is of such interest to the public generally that he or she intends to inform either or both of the Houses of the Oireachtas of the contents of the record or part or of the matter or otherwise to publish the contents of the record or part or information relating to the matter on a day not later than one week after the appropriate time specified in section 8 (3) (“the specified day”),

the head concerned may defer the offering of access to the record to the requester concerned until the day immediately after the specified day.

(2) Section 8 (3) shall be construed and have effect in relation to a case in which the offering of access to a record is deferred under this section as if—

(a) paragraph (a) thereof required access to the record to be offered to the requester concerned forthwith upon the expiration of the period of the deferral and the record to be kept available for the purpose of such access for a period of 4 weeks thereafter, and

(b) paragraph (b) thereof required access to the record to be offered to the requester as soon as may be, but not more than one week, after—

(i) the expiration of the period of the deferral, or

(ii) the day on which the fee under section 47 concerned is received by the public body concerned,

whichever is the later and the record to be kept available for the purpose of such access until—

(I) the expiration of the period of 4 weeks from such receipt, or

(II) the expiration of the period of 4 weeks from the expiration of the period of the deferral,

whichever is the later.