Mr. Justice John Quirke:

The commission believes the offence of contempt of court requires serious attention. The Law Reform Commission published a paper in 1994 on this area but nothing has been done on it. The problem is that there is considerable confusion about the two types of contempt of court, civil and criminal. There is one being punitive in nature and the other being an attempt to be coercive. Recent matters have highlighted this problem. The Supreme Court has indicated that there is confusion in this area and a necessity to look at providing statutory assistance to it. We also have to take into account principles that the European Court of Human Rights has set down in this area and we need to conform to these.

The 1994 commission paper will not be of much assistance because so much has happened since then. We will examine the whole area again as well as issues such as embracery - that is interfering with jurors - and scandalising the court.

Members will see them there. It is simply to bring them into the 21st century. We think we need to deal with that. I doubt that we will receive much opposition in respect of that and many people have complained about it. It is important we have clarity about it.