159. (1) Without prejudice to the Official Secrets Act 1963 and subject to section 69, a person who has, or has had, access to information relating to a sample taken from a person (or child) under this Act, or information in the DNA Database System, shall not disclose the information except for one or more of the following purposes:

(a) the purposes of the investigation of an offence or an inquiry relating to a missing person, an unknown person or an unknown deceased person;

(b) the purpose of a decision whether to institute proceedings for an offence;

(c) the purposes of criminal proceedings;

(d) the purpose of determining whether it is necessary to take a sample under this Act;

(e) the purposes of an inquest under the Coroners Act 1962;

(f) the purpose of making the information available to the person to whom the information relates;

(g) the purposes of a review of an alleged miscarriage of justice under section 2 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1993;

(h) the purposes of administering the DNA Database System;

(i) the purposes of automated searching and automated comparison of DNA profiles in the DNA Database System in accordance with Chapter 2of Part 12;

(j) the purposes of a request under Chapter 3 of Part 5 of the Act of 2008 or a request under section 50 of the Act of 2006;

(k) the purposes of compliance with section 8 or 9 of the Europol Act 2012;

(l) the purposes of Chapter 7 of Part 12;

(m) the purposes of an investigation of a complaint concerning the conduct of a member of the Garda Síochána by the Ombudsman Commission;

(n) the purposes of the performance by the Committee of its functions under this Act;

(o) the purposes of the performance by the Data Protection Commissioner of his or her functions under the Data Protection Act 1988;

(p) the purposes of civil proceedings (including disciplinary proceedings) regarding the manner in which a sample was taken under this Act;

(q) the disclosure of the information to any person if the person to whom the information relates consents to its disclosure to that person;

(r) any other purpose that is prescribed.

(2) A person who intentionally or recklessly discloses information in contravention of this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €50,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or both.