5.— (1) For the purposes of this Act and the Council Decision, the national unit shall have the following functions:

(a) to accept requests from Europol to initiate investigations in relation to alleged criminal offences and inform the designated competent authorities of such requests as soon as practicable;

(b) to liaise with Europol and the designated competent authorities of other Member States;

(c) to communicate information and intelligence to Europol which the head of the national unit considers necessary for Europol to carry out its tasks;

(d) to issue a request to Europol for advice, information, intelligence or analysis;

(e) to respond to requests from Europol for information, intelligence or advice;

(f) to provide Europol with information for processing in its databases;

(g) to perform such other tasks as are required by the Council Decision.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the national unit may refuse to provide information to Europol where to do so would be likely to—

(a) prejudice the security or other essential interests of the State or be contrary to public policy,

(b) prejudice criminal proceedings or investigations in relation to alleged criminal offences in the State, or

(c) jeopardise the safety of a person.

(3) The national unit shall for the purposes of sections 8 and 9 communicate directly with the Europol Information System.

(4) The national unit may for the purposes of the Council Decision—

(a) access the Europol Information System, and

(b) receive information and intelligence from that system.