9A.—(1) A court considering an application for bail may, on the application of a member of the Garda Síochána, hear evidence from the person in respect of whom the offence is alleged to have been committed as to:

(a) the likelihood of direct or indirect interference or attempted interference by the accused person with the person in respect of whom the offence is alleged to have been committed or a member or his or her family; and

(b) the nature and seriousness of any danger to any person that may be presented by the release of the accused person on bail.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) the court may—

(a) where the person in respect of whom the offence is alleged to have been committed is a child under the age of 14 years, hear the evidence of the child or his or her parent or guardian on behalf of the child,

(b) where the person in respect of whom the offence is alleged to have been committed is a person with a mental disorder, hear the evidence of the person or a family member on behalf of the person.

(3) The court may, in the interests of justice, order that information relating to the evidence given under subsection (1) or any part of that information shall not be published or broadcast.

(4) If any matter is published or broadcast in contravention of subsection (3), the following persons, namely—

(a) in the case of a publication in a newspaper or periodical, any proprietor, any editor and any publisher of the newspaper or periodical,

(b) in the case of any other publication, the person who publishes it, and

(c) in the case of a broadcast, any person who transmits or provides the programme in which the broadcast is made and any person having functions in relation to the programme corresponding to those of the editor of a newspaper,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(5) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (4) shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or both.

(6) Where an offence under subsection (4) is committed by a body corporate and it is proved that the offence was committed with the consent or connivance of any person being a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, or a person who was purporting to act in that capacity, that person shall, as well as the body corporate, be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he or she were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.

(7) In this section—

"broadcast" has the meaning assigned to it by the Broadcasting Act 2009;

"child" means a person under the age of 18 years;

"family member" means—

(a) a spouse or partner of the person,

(b) a child, grandchild, parent, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece of the person,

(c) a person who is acting in loco parentis to the person,

(d) a dependant of the person, or

(e) any other person with whom, in the opinion of the court, the person has a close connection;

"guardian", in relation to a child, has the meaning assigned to it by the Children Act 2001;

"mental disorder" has the meaning assigned to it by the Mental Health Act 2001;

"publish" means publish, other than by way of broadcast, to the public or a portion of the public.]