Immunity from suit
18.—(1) No action lies against a person who is—
(a)a member of the inquiry panel;
(b)an assessor, counsel or solicitor to the inquiry; or
(c)engaged to provide assistance to the inquiry,
in respect of any act done or omission made in the execution of that person’s duty as such, or any act done or omission made in good faith in the purported execution of that person’s duty as such.
(2) Subsection (1) applies only to acts done or omissions made during the course of the inquiry.
(3) For the purposes of the law of defamation, the same privilege attaches to—
(a)any statement made in or for the purposes of proceedings before the inquiry (including the report and any interim report of the inquiry); and
(b)reports of proceedings before the inquiry,
as would be the case if those proceedings were proceedings before a court in Northern Ireland.