Criminal Procedure Act 2021
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Relevant offence for purposes of Part | ||
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5. (1) In this Part, a relevant offence means— | ||
(a) an offence specified in an order made under subsection (2), | ||
(b) an offence for which a person of full capacity and not previously convicted may, under, or by virtue of, any enactment or the common law, be sentenced to— | ||
(i) imprisonment for life, or | ||
(ii) a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years or more, | ||
(c) an offence consisting of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the commission of an offence specified in an order made under subsection (2) or an offence to which paragraph (b) applies, or | ||
(d) an offence consisting of conspiring to commit, or inciting the commission of, an offence specified in an order made under subsection (2) or an offence to which paragraph (b) applies. | ||
(2) Subject to subsection (3) , the Minister may by order specify as a relevant offence an indictable offence under a provision of any enactment or at common law, other than an offence to which subsection (1)(b) applies, if the Minister considers that it is proper to do so for the purposes of— | ||
(a) facilitating the just, expeditious and efficient conduct of the prosecution of such indictable offence and, in particular, for the avoidance of delays in such prosecution, | ||
(b) preventing the disruption to juries and witnesses that could arise in the trial of such indictable offence where no preliminary trial hearing was held in respect of such trial, or | ||
(c) reducing the impact on victims of such indictable offence of orders to which section 6 (8) applies being made during the course of the trial of the offence, where such orders could appropriately have been made at a preliminary trial hearing. | ||
(3) In making an order under subsection (2), the Minister shall take into account the following: | ||
(a) the nature of the offence concerned; | ||
(b) any relevant complexities that generally arise in the prosecution of such an offence. | ||
(4) An order made under subsection (2) shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House sits after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder. |