International Co-operation (Omagh Bombing Inquiry) Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-19
============================================================

Conor Murphy (SF), Industrial and Commercial Panel

I move amendment No. 25:
In page 12, to delete lines 5 to 10 and substitute the following:
“(5) For the purpose of giving evidence—
(a) under section 9 , a designated person shall not be compelled to give any evidence which he or she could not be compelled to give in criminal proceedings in the State,
(b) under section 10 , a designated person may refuse to answer a question only where answering would give rise to a substantial and objectively reasonable risk of prejudice to a legal right or privilege recognised in criminal proceedings in the State. Any refusal shall—
(i) be provided in writing or on the record,
(ii) set out the specific legal basis for the refusal, and
(iii) be subject to review by the Chairman for adequacy and reasonableness,
and
(c) subject to paragraph (b) , a designated person giving evidence under section 10 shall answer all questions put to him or her, including supplementary or follow-up questions arising from—
(i) answers given under section 9 or 10 ,
(ii) any written statement provided under section 5(5)(a ), or
(iii) any document, record or information relevant to the topics, areas of inquiry or matters specified in the relevant decision under section 5 or 6 .”.
This amendment clarifies the limits on compellability when evidence is taken. It preserves the same protections as a person would have in criminal proceedings but requires that any refusal to answer under section 10 be specific, justified in writing and reviewable. Subject to those safeguards, witnesses must answer all relevant follow-up questions arising from their evidence or documents.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:57+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-19