Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 34:

In page 80, lines 38 and 39, to delete all words from and including “amended” in line 38, down to and including line 39 and substitute the following:

“amended—

(a) in subsection (1), by the substitution of “an offence under this Act or a related enactment that may be prosecuted summarily may only be prosecuted summarily” for “a summary offence under this Act or a related enactment may be prosecuted only”, and

(b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (3):”.

The purpose of this amendment is to amend section 43 of the Communications Regulation Act 2002. That provides for ComReg's power to prosecute summary offences under the 2002 or related enactments.

The manner in which section 43 has been drafted created some ambiguity as to whether ComReg was empowered to prosecute offences summarily if those offences were capable of being prosecuted both summarily and on indictment. These offences are sometimes referred to as each-way offences.

It is our intention that ComReg should be able to summarily prosecute any offence capable of summary prosecution and the aim of the amendment is to put this beyond doubt. ComReg has the appropriate experience and expertise to carry out this role. The Director of Public Prosecutions will remain the sole entity capable of prosecuting offences on indictment.