77.— (1) Where it appears to a judge of any court that—

(a) criminal proceedings have been instituted or a criminal investigation is taking place, and

(b) identification evidence for the purposes of the proceedings or investigation may be obtained from an authority in a designated state,

the judge may issue a letter (a “letter of request”) requesting assistance in obtaining the evidence.

(2) Application for a letter of request may be made by the Director of Public Prosecutions or a person charged in any proceedings that have been instituted.

(3) The letter of request shall be sent to—

(a) the Central Authority for transmission to the appropriate authority, or

(b) in urgent cases, directly to that authority.

(4) Notwithstanding subsections (1) to (3), where proceedings for an offence have been instituted or an offence is being investigated, the Director of Public Prosecutions may issue and transmit a letter of request directly to the appropriate authority.

(5) The letter of request shall include—

(a) a statement that the evidence is required for the purpose of criminal proceedings or a criminal investigation and will be returned to the appropriate authority when no longer required for that purpose, unless the authority indicates otherwise,

(b) a brief description of the conduct constituting the offence concerned, F81[…]

F82[(ba) in the case of a request pursuant to Article 7 of the 2008 Council Decision, or that Article insofar as it is applied by Article 1 of the 2009 Agreement with Iceland and Norway, F83[or, in the case of a request pursuant to Article 532 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement,] for the DNA profile of a person who is suspected of having committed the offence concerned whose DNA profile is not in the possession of the appropriate authority, a statement issued by the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána or the Director of Public Prosecutions, as may be appropriate, confirming that the requirements for the taking of a DNA sample from the person under the law of the State would be complied with if the person were in the State, and]

(c) any other available information that may assist the appropriate authority in complying with the request.

(6) Evidence obtained by virtue of this section shall not, without the consent of the appropriate authority, be used for any purpose other than that specified in the letter of request.

(7) When any such evidence is no longer required for that purpose (or for any other purpose for which such consent has been obtained), it shall be returned to the appropriate authority unless the authority indicates that it need not be returned.

(8) In any proceedings a document purporting to be—

(a) a report of the taking of the identification evidence in the designated state and to be signed by, and to state the rank or other qualification of, the person who took the evidence, or

(b) a record of the evidence kept by the appropriate authority and certified by it or on its behalf,

is admissible, without further proof, as evidence of the matters stated in it.

(9) In this section, “appropriate authority” means the authority in the designated state concerned appearing to the Director of Public Prosecutions to possess the identification evidence requested or to have the function of obtaining or arranging to obtain it.