26.      (1) The Minister and the Tribunal and their respective officers shall take all practicable steps to ensure that the identity of applicants is kept confidential.

(2) A person shall not, without the consent of the applicant, publish in a written publication available to the public or broadcast, or cause to be so published or broadcast, information likely to lead members of the public to identify a person as an applicant.

(3) If any matter is published or broadcast in contravention of subsection (2), the following persons shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a class A fine or a term of imprisonment of 12 months or both:

(a) in the case of a publication in a newspaper or periodical, the proprietor, the editor and the publisher of the newspaper or periodical;

(b) in the case of any other publication, the person who publishes it;

(c) in the case of matter that is a programme that is broadcast, any person who transmits or provides that programme in which the broadcast is made, and any person having functions in relation to the programme corresponding to those of the editor of a newspaper;

(d) in the case of matter that is broadcast but is not a programme, the person responsible for broadcasting the matter and any person having functions in relation to the website or other medium of communications corresponding to those of the editor of a newspaper.

(4) Where a person is charged with an offence under subsection (3), it shall be a defence to prove that at the time of the alleged offence he or she was not aware, and neither suspected nor had reason to suspect, that the publication or broadcast in question was of such matter as is referred to in subsection (2).

(5) In this section—

“applicant” means a person who is or has been an applicant—

(a) under this Act, or

(b) within the meaning of the Act of 1996,Regulation 4 of the Regulations of 2006 or the Regulations of 2013;

“broadcast” means the transmission, relaying or distribution by wireless telegraphy or cable of communications, sounds, signs, visual images or signals intended for direct reception by the general public, whether such communications, sounds, signs, visual images or signals are actually received or not, and includes the publication of such communications, sounds, signs, visual images or signals through the medium of the internet;

“written publication” includes a film, a sound track and any other record in permanent form (including a record that is not in a legible form but which is capable of being reproduced in a legible form) but does not include an indictment or other document prepared for use in particular legal proceedings.