15.— (1) This section applies where a person—

(a) is, on or after the commencement of this section, sent forward for trial in respect of a relevant offence and is, or

(b) has, before the commencement of this section, been sent forward for trial but has not yet been tried in respect of a relevant offence and is, on or after such commencement,

tried on indictment in respect of the offence, and acquitted of that offence (whether at the trial, on appeal against conviction or on appeal from such a decision on appeal).

(2) For the purposes of this section, a person who has been acquitted of a relevant offence in proceedings referred to in subsection (1) shall be deemed to also have been acquitted of any relevant offence in respect of which he or she could have been convicted in the proceedings concerned by virtue of the first-mentioned offence charged in the indictment, other than an offence for which he or she has been convicted.

(3) A member of the Garda Síochána shall not, either with or without the consent of a person referred to in subsection (1), do any of the following in connection with the person’s suspected participation in a relevant offence in respect of which that person was acquitted, except in so far as it is authorised in accordance with the provisions of this Act:

(a) arrest and detain the person;

(b) interview the person;

(c) search the person or cause him or her to be searched;

(d) photograph the person or cause him or her to be photographed;

(e) take or cause to be taken, the person’s fingerprints or palm prints;

(f) take or cause to be taken from the person, a sample for the purposes of forensic testing;

(g) seize and retain for testing or for use as evidence anything in the person’s possession;

(h) search a place owned or occupied, or partly owned or occupied by the person.