Criminal Evidence Act , 1992

PART I Preliminary

1. Short title and commencement.

1.—(1)This Act may be cited as the Criminal Evidence Act, 1992.

(2)This Act (except Part III and section 29) shall come into operation three months after the date of its passing.

(3)Part III and section 29 shall come into operation on such day or days as may be fixed therefor by order or orders of the Minister for Justice and different days may be so fixed for different purposes and different provisions; and, in particular, any of the provisions of sections 13 to 16 and section 29 may be brought into operation on different days for different courts and for different circuits and district court districts.

(4)(a)The provisions of this Act (other than Part III F1[(exceptsections 14A,15,16(1)(b),18and19A)] and section 29) shall not apply to criminal proceedings instituted before the commencement of the provisions concerned.

(b)For the purposes of paragraph (a) criminal proceedings are instituted—

(i)when a summons or warrant of arrest is issued in respect of an offence,

(ii)when a person is arrested without a warrant, or

(iii)when a person is remanded for trial pursuant to F2[Chapter IVofPart V].

2. Interpretation (general).

2.—(1)In this Act—

“the Act of 1935” means the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1935;

“court” includes court-martial;

“criminal proceedings” includes proceedings before a court-martial and proceedings on appeal;

“document” includes—

(i)a map, plan, graph, drawing or photograph, or

(ii)a reproduction in permanent legible form, by a computer or other means (including enlarging), of information in non-legible form;

“information” includes any representation of fact, whether in words or otherwise;

“information in non-legible form” includes information on microfilm, microfiche, magnetic tape or disk;

F3["sexual offence" means rape, sexual assault (within the meaning ofsection 2of theCriminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act 1990), aggravated sexual assault (within the meaning of section 3 of that Act), rape under section 4 of that Act or an offence under—

(a)section 3or6of theCriminal Law Amendment Act 1885,

(b)section 5of theCriminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993,

(c)section 6of theCriminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993,

(d)section 1or2of thePunishment of Incest Act 1908,

(e) section 4A or 5A of theChild Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998,

(f)section 249of theChildren Act 2001,

(g) theCriminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006, or

(h)section 3,4,5,6,7or8of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017,

excluding an attempt to commit any such offence;]

“videorecording” means any recording, on any medium, from which a moving image may by any means be produced and includes the accompanying soundtrack (if any), and cognate words shall be construed accordingly.

(2)Nothing in Part II or in section 30 shall prejudice the admissibility in evidence in any criminal proceedings of information contained in a document that is otherwise so admissible.

(3)Where in any criminal proceedings the age of a person at any time is material for the purposes of any provision of this Act, his age at that time shall for the purposes of that provision be deemed, unless the contrary is proved, to be or to have been that which appears to the court to be or to have been his age at that time.

(4)In this Act—

(a)a reference to a Part or section is to a Part or section of this Act, unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended,

(b)a reference to a subsection or paragraph is to the subsection or paragraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended.

(5)A reference in this Act to any enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended, adapted or extended by or under any subsequent enactment (including this Act).

3. Repeals.

3.—The enactments specified in the Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in column (3) thereof.

PART II Admissibility of Documentary Evidence

4. Definition (Part II).

4.—In this Part “business” includes any trade, profession or other occupation carried on, for reward or otherwise, either within or outside the State and includes also the performance of functions by or on behalf of—

(a)any person or body remunerated or financed wholly or partly out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas,

(b)any institution of the European Communities,

(c)any national or local authority in a jurisdiction outside the State, or

(d)any international organisation.

5. Admissibility of documentary evidence.

5.—(1)Subject to this Part, information contained in a document shall be admissible in any criminal proceedings as evidence of any fact therein of which direct oral evidence would be admissible if the information—

(a)was compiled in the ordinary course of a business,

(b)was supplied by a person (whether or not he so compiled it and is identifiable) who had, or may reasonably be supposed to have had, personal knowledge of the matters dealt with, and

(c)in the case of information in non-legible form that has been reproduced in permanent legible form, was reproduced in the course of the normal operation of the reproduction system concerned.

(2)Subsection (1) shall apply whether the information was supplied directly or indirectly but, if it was supplied indirectly, only if each person (whether or not he is identifiable) through whom it was supplied received it in the ordinary course of a business.

(3)Subsection (1) shall not apply to—

(a)information that is privileged from disclosure in criminal proceedings,

(b)information supplied by a person who would not be compellable to give evidence at the instance of the party wishing to give the information in evidence by virtue of this section, or

(c)subject to subsection (4), information compiled for the purposes or in contemplation of any—

(i)criminal investigation,

(ii)investigation or inquiry carried out pursuant to or under any enactment,

(iii)civil or criminal proceedings, or

(iv)proceedings of a disciplinary nature.

(4)Subsection (3) (c) shall not apply where—

(a)(i)the information contained in the document was compiled in the presence of a judge of the District Court and supplied on oath by a person in respect of whom an offence was alleged to have been committed and who is ordinarily resident outside the State,

(ii)either F4[section 4F] (which deals with the taking of a deposition in the presence of such a judge and the accused) of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1967, could not be invoked or it was not practicable to do so, and

(iii)the person in respect of whom the offence was alleged to have been committed either has died or is outside the State and it is not reasonably practicable to secure his attendance at the criminal proceedings concerned,

or

(b)the document containing the information is—

(i)a map, plan, drawing or photograph (including any explanatory material in or accompanying the document concerned),

(ii)a record of a direction given by a member of the Garda Síochána pursuant to any enactment,

F5[(iia) a record of the receipt, handling, transmission or storage of anything by the Forensic Science Laboratory of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in connection with the performance of its functions to examine and analyse things or samples of things for the purposes of criminal investigations or proceedings or both,]

(iii)a record of the receipt, handling, transmission, examination or analysis of any thing by any person acting on behalf of any party to the proceedings, or

(iv)a record by a registered medical practitioner of an examination of a living or dead person.

(5)Without prejudice to subsection (1)—

(a)where a document purports to be a birth certificate issued in pursuance of the Births and Deaths Registration Acts, 1863 to 1987, and

(b)a person is named therein as father or mother of the person to whose birth the certificate relates,

the document shall be admissible in any criminal proceedings as evidence of the relationship indicated therein.

(6)Where information is admissible in evidence by virtue of this section but is expressed in terms that are not intelligible to the average person without explanation, an explanation of the information shall also be admissible in evidence if either—

(a)it is given orally by a person who is competent to do so, or

(b)it is contained in a document and the document purports to be signed by such a person.

6. Evidence of admissibility.

6.—(1)In relation to information contained in a document which a party to criminal proceedings wishes to give in evidence by virtue of section 5, a certificate—

(a)stating that the information was compiled in the ordinary course of a specified business,

(b)stating that the information is not of a kind mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) of section 5 (3),

(c)either stating that the information was not compiled for the purposes or in contemplation of any investigation, inquiry or proceedings referred to in section 5 (3) (c) or, as the case may be, specifying which of the provisions of section 5 (4) applies in relation to the document containing the information,

(d)stating that the information was supplied, either directly or, as the case may be, indirectly through an intermediary or intermediaries (who, or each of whom, received it in the ordinary course of a specified business), by a person who had, or may reasonably be supposed to have had, personal knowledge of the matters dealt with in the information and, where the intermediary, intermediaries or person can be identified, specifying them,

(e)in case the information is information in non-legible form that has been reproduced in permanent legible form, stating that the reproduction was effected in the course of the normal operation of a specified system,

(f)where appropriate, stating that the person who supplied the information cannot reasonably be expected to have any, or any adequate, recollection of the matters dealt with in the information, having regard to the time that has elapsed since he supplied it or to any other specified circumstances,

(g)unless the date on which the information was compiled is already shown on the document, specifying the date (or, if that date is not known, the approximate date) on which it was compiled,

(h)stating any other matter that is relevant to the admissibility in evidence of the information and is required by rules of court to be certified for the purposes of this subsection,

and purporting to be signed by a person who occupies a position in relation to the management of the business in the course of which the information was compiled or who is otherwise in a position to give the certificate shall be evidence of any matter stated or specified therein.

(2)For the purposes of subsection (1) it shall be sufficient for a matter to be stated or specified to the best of the knowledge and belief of the person stating or specifying it.

(3)Notwithstanding that a certificate may have been given pursuant to subsection (1), the court—

(a)shall, where a notice has been served pursuant to section 7 (2) objecting to the admissibility in evidence of the whole or any specified part of the information concerned, and

(b)may, in any other case,

require oral evidence to be given of any matter stated or specified in the certificate.

(4)If any person in a certificate given in evidence in any proceedings by virtue of subsection (1) makes a statement material in those proceedings which he knows to be false or does not believe to be true, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—

(a)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £500 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both, or

(b)on conviction on indictment, to a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or both.

7. Notice of documentary evidence.

7.—(1)Information in a document shall not, without the leave of the court, be admissible in evidence by virtue of section 5 at a trial unless—

(a)a copy of the document and, where appropriate, of a certificate pursuant to section 6 (1) has been served on the accused F6[pursuant to section 4B(1) or 4C(1) of theCriminal Procedure Act, 1967,] or

(b)not later than 21 days before the commencement of the trial, a notice of intention so to give the information in evidence, together with a copy of the document and, where appropriate, of the certificate, is served by or on behalf of the party proposing to give it in evidence on each of the other parties to the proceedings.

(2)A party to the proceedings on whom a notice has been served pursuant to subsection (1) shall not, without the leave of the court, object to the admissibility in evidence of the whole or any specified part of the information concerned unless, not later than 7 days before the commencement of the trial, a notice objecting to its admissibility is served by or on behalf of that party on each of the other parties to the proceedings.

(3)A document required by this section to be served on any person may, subject to subsection (4), be served—

(a)by delivering it to him or to his solicitor,

(b)by addressing it to him and leaving it at his usual or last known residence or place of business or by addressing it to his solicitor and leaving it at the solicitor's office,

(c)by sending it by registered post to him at his usual or last known residence or place of business or to his solicitor at the solicitor’s office, or

(d)in the case of a body corporate, by delivering it to the secretary or clerk of the body at its registered or principal office or sending it by registered post to the secretary or clerk of that body at that office.

(4)A document required by this section to be served on an accused shall be served personally on him if he is not represented by a solicitor.

8. Admission and weight of documentary evidence.

8.—(1)In any criminal proceedings information or any part thereof that is admissible in evidence by virtue of section 5 shall not be admitted if the court is of opinion that in the interests of justice the information or that part ought not to be admitted.

(2)In considering whether in the interests of justice all or any part of such information ought not to be admitted in evidence the court shall have regard to all the circumstances, including—

(a)whether or not, having regard to the contents and source of the information and the circumstances in which it was compiled, it is a reasonable inference that the information is reliable,

(b)whether or not, having regard to the nature and source of the document containing the information and to any other circumstances that appear to the court to be relevant, it is a reasonable inference that the document is authentic, and

(c)any risk, having regard in particular to whether it is likely to be possible to controvert the information where the person who supplied it does not attend to give oral evidence in the proceedings, that its admission or exclusion will result in unfairness to the accused or, if there is more than one, to any of them.

(3)In estimating the weight, if any, to be attached to information given in evidence by virtue of this Part, regard shall be had to all the circumstances from which any inference can reasonably be drawn as to its accuracy or otherwise.

9. Evidence as to credibility of supplier of information.

9.—Where information is given in evidence by virtue of this Part—

(a)any evidence which, if the person who originally supplied the information had been called as a witness, would have been admissible as relevant to his credibility as a witness shall be admissible for that purpose,

(b)evidence may, with the leave of the court, be given of any matter which, if that person had been called as a witness, could have been put to him in cross-examination as relevant to his credibility as a witness but of which evidence could not have been adduced by the cross-examining party, and

(c)evidence tending to prove that that person, whether before or after supplying the information, made (whether orally or not) a statement which is inconsistent with it shall, if not already admissible by virtue of section 5, be admissible for the purpose of showing that he has contradicted himself.

10. Amendment of Criminal Procedure Act, 1967.

10.—The Criminal Procedure Act, 1967, is hereby amended—

(a)by the substitution, for paragraphs (d) and (e) of section 6 (1) of that Act (which provides for the service of documents on an accused), of the following paragraphs:

and

(b)by the substitution, for section 11 of that Act (which provides for service of additional documents on an accused after he has been sent forward for trial), of the following section:

11. Evidence of resolution of Dáil or Seanad.

11.—In any criminal proceedings evidence of the passing of a resolution by either House of the Oireachtas, whether before or after the commencement of this section, may be given by the production of a copy of the Journal of the proceedings of that House relating to the resolution and purporting to have been published by the Stationery Office.

PART III Evidence in Certain Proceedings

12. F7[Interpretation and application - Part III

12.(1) In this Part—

"family member", in relation to a victim, means—

(a) a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of the victim,

(b) a child or step-child of the victim,

(c) a parent or grandparent of the victim,

(d) a brother, sister, half brother or half sister of the victim,

(e) a grandchild of the victim,

(f) an aunt, uncle, nephew or niece of the victim, and

(g) any other person—

(i) who is or, where the victim is deceased, was dependent on the victim, or

(ii) who a court considers has or, where the victim is deceased, had a sufficiently close connection with the victim as to warrant his or her being treated as a family member;

"relevant offence" means—

(a) a sexual offence;

(b) an offence involving violence or the threat of violence to a person;

F8[(ba) an offence under section 10 (amended by section 23 of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023) of the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act 1997;]

(c) an offence undersection 3,4,5or6of theChild Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998;

(d) an offence undersection 2,4or7of theCriminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008;