Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 14 November 2019
Public Accounts Committee
2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 22: Courts Service
9:00 am
Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source
I have a general question on the review of legislation.
It came up in the context of the sexual offences Bill. The system seems to have an aversion to building a review into legislation and where it is built in, it is in a very limited manner. If provision for an operational review had been built into the Fines Act, it would have sorted out matters very quickly. Mr. Fallon said the Department had spotted a problem, but it did not act and the Courts Service has been left with egg on its face, which is not really fair to it because it is legislation it is trying to operate. There are two elements - the Dáil which passed the legislation but did not see the lacunae and the Department of Justice and Equality in the review of its operation. Is there not a lesson to be learned that legislation should be reviewed more frequently and efficiently?
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