Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Act 2013
Privilege and immunity of committees, etc.
92.— (1) A member of a House shall not, in respect of any utterance in or before a committee, be amenable to any court or any authority other than the House.
(2) Subject to sections 36(2) and 37(2), the following are privileged wherever published:
(a) the documents of a committee and the documents of committee members connected with the committee or its functions,
(b) all official reports and publications of a committee, and
(c) the utterances made in proceedings of a committee.
(3) Utterances made or documents prepared at or for meetings of a committee that are held otherwise than in public and at which no evidence is given to the committee shall not be disclosed without the consent in writing of the chairman.
(4) A document given to a committee by a person who is not a committee member shall cease to be a document of the committee under subsection (2)(a) if the committee so decides.
(5) In this section “utterance” includes a statement within the meaning of the Defamation Act 2009.