Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 9, to delete lines 21 to 47 and in page 10, to delete lines 1 to 17 and substitute the following:

65.—(1) The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform may, by order made with the consent of the Minister for Finance—

(a) prescribe the fees to be charged—

(i) in the several offices established by the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act 1961, or

(ii) in any other office of, or attached to, any court,

(b) subject to subsection (2), prescribe the fees to be charged, in every financial year commencing after the making of the order, in respect of the income or funds in court during that year, or both, of every person who is of unsound mind, under the jurisdiction vested in the High Court by section 9 of the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act 1961,

(c) subject to subsection (2)(a), prescribe the fees to be charged, in every financial year commencing after the making of the order, in respect of the income or funds in court during that year, or both, of every person who is a minor, under the jurisdiction vested in the High Court by section 9 of the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act 1961,

(d) prescribe the persons by whom such fees are to be paid, and

(e) prescribe the occasions upon which such fees are to be paid.

(2) An order made under subsection (1)—

(a) may prescribe general or special exemptions from the payment of fees prescribed under that subsection,

(b) may, in relation to income or funds referred to in paragraph (b) of that subsection, be made by way of variation or extension of or in substitution for all or any of the provisions of sections 109 to 114 of the Lunacy Regulation (Ireland) Act 1871.

(3) Subject to subsection (2), the Courts Service shall collect all fees chargeable under an order made under subsection (1) in accordance with the provisions of the order prescribed under paragraphs (d) and (e) of subsection (1).

(4) All fees collected under an order made under subsection (1) shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance may direct.

(5) The Courts Service may—

(a) determine the manner or method of payment of any fees chargeable under an order made under subsection (1), and

(b) determine the form in which the payment of any such fees shall be recorded, including the provision of a receipt in respect of such payment.

(6) An order made under this section before the commencement of section 8 of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006 and in force immediately before that commencement shall, on and after that commencement, be deemed to be an order made under subsection (1) and, accordingly, be liable to amendment or revocation by another order made under that subsection.".

This amendment relates to court fees. It replaces the amendment to section 8 of the Bill as it stands. As it stands, section 8 of the Bill seeks to replace section 65 of the Courts of Justice Act 1936 to ensure that the minutiae of the manner in which court fees are collected are left to the Courts Service rather than set out in fees orders made by the Minister. Unusually, responsibility for the collection of court fees was never formally transferred to the Courts Service when it became an independent agency. In practice, however, the CEO of the Courts Service operates on the basis that he or she is the Accounting Officer in respect of court fees. Notwithstanding this, it was considered prudent to remove the ambiguity as to who is the Accounting Officer in respect of fees.

In addition, as the provision currently stands in the Courts of Justice Act 1936, the Courts Service is not entirely free to devise and implement new methods of payment, for example, taking advantage of new technology for this purpose. If, for example, the Courts Service wanted to provide an Internet-based system of fee collection, it would be required to operate any such system under the authority of the Minister.

In practice, this would mean the Minister and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform would be ultimately responsible for the arrangements and would have to issue the necessary Internet authorisations. It was decided that it would be far more sensible for the Courts Service to do the job itself, and the amendment at section 8 of the Bill provides for that. The provision in the form now proposed in this amendment also allows for the operation of the fee-prescribing power, with significant flexibility to cater for present and possible future fund management approaches within the Courts Service to the business of safeguarding and investing the funds for which it is responsible, including those of minors and other vulnerable persons.

See this speech in context