Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 9, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following:

6.—Section 88 of the Courts of Justice Act 1924 is amended by inserting the following after subsection (4):

"(5) For the purposes of this section (including any warrant under subsection (1))—

(a) subject to paragraphs (b) to (g), "county" means a county as referred to in section 10 of the Local Government Act 2001 and as its boundaries are in force from time to time under Part 8 of that Act,

(b) the city of Cork and the county of Cork shall be regarded as a single county, and a reference to the county of Cork shall include the city of Cork,

(c) the city of Dublin and the counties of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin shall be regarded as a single county, and a reference to the county of Dublin shall include the city of Dublin and the counties of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin,

(d) the city of Galway and the county of Galway shall be regarded as a single county, and a reference to the county of Galway shall include the city of Galway,

(e) the city of Limerick and the county of Limerick shall be regarded as a single county, and a reference to the county of Limerick shall include the city of Limerick,

(f) the city of Waterford and the county of Waterford shall be regarded as a single county, and a reference to the county of Waterford shall include the city of Waterford, and

(g) the counties of North Tipperary and South Tipperary shall be regarded as a single county.".

This amendment is intended to clarify the meaning of "county" for the purposes of the appointment and powers of peace commissioners. This will ensure alignment with new local authority administrative areas while maintaining the links with the geographic areas familiar to most people. The amendment provides that a subsection be inserted into section 88 of the Courts of Justice Act 1924.

Section 88 of the Courts of Justice Act 1924 provides for the appointment of peace commissioners in each county. Neither the Act nor the section itself currently defines what is meant by "county". This has posed some difficulties in regard to the warrants of appointment of peace commissioners made since the commencement of the section. At certain stages the warrants of appointment referred to the "County of Dublin" or "County of Waterford" while at other stages reference is made to the "county borough of Dublin and County of Dublin" or to the "county borough of Waterford and county of Waterford".

The Local Government (Dublin) Act 1993 maintained the county borough of Dublin, the city, and divided what was County Dublin into three new administrative counties — Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. The Local Government Act 2001, however, abolished the concept of the county borough and replaced it with "administrative areas", or cities, separate to counties. The Act also established a new list of counties.

The proposed subsection (5)(a) provides that the local authority county and city administrative areas provided for in the Local Government Act 2001 will form the basis for counties for the purpose of the appointment and exercise of powers by peace commissioners. The intention is to remove any doubt that may exist regarding the meaning of county in section 88 of the Courts of Justice Act 2001.

The proposed subsections (5)(b) to (g) provide that cities, such as Cork, Limerick and Galway, will be regarded as part of the county for the purpose of peace commissioners. This is consistent with existing practice and will remove any doubt about the jurisdiction of peace commissioners regarding city areas. Peace commissioners appointed after the commencement of the Local Government Act 2001 will be reappointed to the role to remove any doubt as to jurisdiction. The subsection also provides that Dublin will be regarded as one area, including the city area and the counties of Fingal, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and South Dublin. In addition, in line with current practice, north and south Tipperary will be regarded as one entity.

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