58.— Section 8 of the Criminal Assets Bureau Act 1996 is amended—

(a) in subsection (2), by the substitution of “subject to subsections (5), (6), (6A), (6B), (6C) and (7)” for “subject to subsections (5), (6) and (7)”, and

(b) by the insertion of the following subsections after subsection (6):

“(6A) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (6), a bureau officer who is an officer of the Revenue Commissioners or an officer of the Minister for Social and Family Affairs may, if and for so long as he or she is accompanied by a bureau officer who is a member of the Garda Síochána, attend at, and participate in, the questioning of a person detained pursuant to—

(a) section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984, or

(b) section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996 (including that section as applied by section 4 of that Act),

in connection with the investigation of an offence but only if the second-mentioned bureau officer requests the first-mentioned bureau officer to do so and the second-mentioned bureau officer is satisfied that the attendance at, and participation in, such questioning of the first-mentioned bureau officer is necessary for the proper investigation of the offence concerned.

(6B) A bureau officer who attends at, and participates in, the questioning of a person in accordance with subsection (6A) may not commit any act or make any omission which, if committed or made by a member of the Garda Síochána, would be a contravention of any regulation made under section 7 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.

(6C) An act committed or omission made by a bureau officer who attends at, and participates in, the questioning of a person in accordance with subsection (6A) which, if committed or made by a member of the Garda Síochána, would be a contravention of any regulation made under the said section 7 shall not of itself render the bureau officer liable to any criminal or civil proceedings or of itself affect the lawfulness of the custody of the detained person or the admissibility in evidence of any statement made by him or her.”.