Witness Security Programme (Ireland)

The Minister for Justice will only grant protection to those who cooperate with investigations conducted by the Garda Síochána.

[6] According to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), it is estimated that 25% of crimes in Ireland are not reported due to intimidation, and one in 10 crimes reported to Gardaí result in overt intimidation against witnesses, often culminating in the collapse of prosecutions.

[7] Witnesses in the programme are given a new identity, address and armed police protection either in Ireland or abroad (generally in Anglophone countries, such as the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and mainland Europe).

[8] Law enforcement in host countries may cooperate with the Garda Síochána in providing security for witnesses in the programme, such as the United States Marshals Service.

[10] Court appearances by witnesses in protection are carried out under the security of the Garda Emergency Response Unit (ERU), the premier armed tactical operations group in Irish law enforcement (and a section of the SDU).

Section 41 specifies the offence as harming, threatening or menacing, or in any other way intimidating or putting in fear another person who is assisting in the investigation of an offence by the Garda Síochána, with the intention of causing the investigation or course of justice to be obstructed, perverted or interfered with.