(1) Subject to subsections (3) to (5), a person is guilty of the offence of hostage-taking if he or she, in or outside the State -

(a) seizes or detains another person ("the hostage"), and

(b) threatens to kill, injure or continue to detain the hostage,

in order to compel a state, an international intergovernmental organisation, a person or a group of persons to do, or abstain from doing, any act.

(2) Subject to subsections (3) to (5), a person who attempts to commit an offence under subsection (1) is guilty of an offence.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) apply to an act committed outside the State if -

(a) the act is committed on board an Irish ship,

(b) the act is committed on an aircraft registered in the State,

(c) the act is committed by a citizen of Ireland or by a stateless person habitually resident in the State,

(d) the act is committed in order to compel the State to do or abstain from doing an act, or

(e) the hostage is a citizen of Ireland.