Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Part 7 amends the Judicial Council Act 2019. The purpose of these amendments is twofold. First, they allow for the temporary replacement of a member of the complaints review committee by providing for an alternate member of the committee to substitute for the absence of a member in additional circumstances. The amendment also provides for the recusal and replacement of a judicial member of the committee in circumstances where the judge in question is the subject of a complaint or otherwise has a conflict of interest in the context of a complaint. The second purpose of these amendments is to clarify the role of the Judicial Council's investigations into the conduct of a judge and to provide for investigations of judicial misconduct in the absence of, or after withdrawal of, a complaint.

Part 8 amends miscellaneous Acts relating to the courts. These include an amendment to section 39 of the Offences against the State Act 1939 to authorise the Courts Service to appoint registrars to a Special Criminal Court in recognition of the position that all such registrars are appointed from among Courts Service staff. The Court Officers Act 1945 is also being amended to allow for the introduction of an offence of obstruction of, or interference with, a sheriff. This will provide legislative protection for sheriffs in the discharge of their functions. The amendment to the Courts Act 1964 seeks to cure an anomaly regarding the date on which proceedings in the District Court are considered to be commenced for the purpose of the Statute of Limitations. The final amendment in this Part is to the Courts Service Act 1998 and will ensure the Courts Service's strategic plan is approved by the incoming Courts Service board rather than by the outgoing board as is the current position.

The final Part, Part 9, contains five sections amending miscellaneous Acts in a number of important areas of civil law. It includes an amendment to the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956 to substitute the word "licence" for "permit" in section 28(11). This will correct a textual error which will resolve an issue that appears to prevent prosecutions for failure to comply with licence conditions. The amendment to the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 clarifies the text of section 11B which enables relatives of a child, and other adults who reside or previously resided with a child, to apply to court for an order giving access to the child.

The amendment to the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 will classify as civil servants, for pension purposes only, those solicitors who retired from the Legal Aid Board prior to 1 June 2014. This is required because section 11 of the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 designated serving Legal Aid Board solicitors as civil servants with effect from 1 June 2014 whereas they had previously been classified as public servants.

The amendment to the Immigration Act 2004 will be split into two parts. The first will fix a typographical issue. The second will provide that permission to land or be in the State can be renewed or varied without the non-national holder of the permission having to make an application for such renewal in every case.

There will also be two amendments to the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020. The first amendment will clarify that the holding of hearings remotely shall be optional for bodies designated under that Act, depending on their needs or requirements. The second amendment will insert a new section in the Act to provide for the interference with hearings held remotely under the Act to be considered an offence.

I will now turn to the amendments I intend to propose on Committee Stage. Earlier this year, I received Government approval to reform duty of care legislation, which is a key insurance reform measure and a very important part of the Government's overall action plan for insurance reform. I propose to bring forward a number of amendments to the Occupiers' Liability Act 1995 in line with Justice Plan 2022 and the Government's policy objective of restricting the liability of occupiers. As I have said, I believe these proposals strike the right balance between ensuring that businesses, community groups, organisations and organisers of events fulfil their duty of care responsibilities while also acknowledging the importance of the personal responsibility of visitors, recreational users and trespassers.

Additional amendments will also include measures aimed at further assisting the modernisation of our courts system and helping to drive efficiencies. This will include amendments on court offices and court officers, centralising the functions of summoning jurors and a number of other related areas that will drive improvements in court processes.

I plan to propose a number of amendments to the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015. These will include amendments regarding the levy model that funds the Legal Services Regulatory Authority, LSRA. These amendments are based on the recommendations set out in the 2015 review of the operation of the Legal Services Regulation Act, which was published in March 2019. These changes will modernise the model used and ensure the LSRA can fulfil its full mandate.

Amendments to the Bankruptcy Act 1998 are also being prepared. These relate to the reform of the process for registering the vesting of a bankrupt's property in the official assignee after bankruptcy adjudication. They will also provide for the official assignee in bankruptcy to make inquiries and provide information on the personal data of a bankrupt person as are necessary and proportionate to the effective performance of his or her statutory functions. In addition, provision will be made to authorise public bodies to provide the requested information to the official assignee on foot of such an inquiry.

I intend to introduce further amendments to the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956. I know it has been a cause for concern for some that children born in Ireland to non-Irish parents do not have an automatic entitlement to citizenship. The Government believes that providing a shorter pathway to citizenship is the right thing to do for these children. My officials continue to work with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel on the drafting of amendments to the Act to reduce from five to three the number of years' residence required for children born in the State to become eligible for citizenship by naturalisation. This will allow children who are currently on a pathway to Irish citizenship to attain this status at an earlier stage. The amendments will provide a clear and specific procedure that will apply where a citizenship application is made for a child.

The Government has also approved the introduction of amendments to this Act to make further provision for the continuous residence condition for naturalisation. This matter was the subject of High Court and Court of Appeal judgments in 2019 in the case of Jones v.Minister for Justice and Equality. I intend to bring forward on Committee Stage a provision aimed at addressing a minor anomaly in section 7 of this Act on the entitlement to Irish citizenship of grandchildren of Irish citizen officials posted abroad in the public service.

I intend to introduce a number of amendments to the Data Protection Act 2018.

These will include measures to ensure data subjects have third-party beneficiary rights in primary law and amendments clarifying confidentiality obligations and the powers of the Data Protection Commission in regard to its issuance of reprimands. A further proposed amendment will, for the first time, confer jurisdiction to hear data protection actions in the District Court. As matters currently stand, the Circuit Court and High Court are the only courts that can hear such actions. Enabling the District Court to hear these actions will improve citizens' access to justice when initiating data protection actions and should reduce the associated costs for both data subjects taking a case and those providing a defence to claims.

I will provide for unincorporated bodies, such as golf clubs and voluntary committees, to conduct their meetings remotely, notwithstanding any internal rules of the body requiring in-person meetings. This provision will be similar to that which was included in the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 during the Covid pandemic. However, that provision was linked to the pandemic and has since expired. This new provision will not be related to any public health situation.

I hope to introduce an amendment to section 7A of the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act 1961, which will permit a single judge to review appeals. This will be provided with a view to improving efficiency and costs associated with the Court of Appeal.

I plan on introducing an amendment to the Succession Act 1965 to allow district probate registrars to certify a particular part of the process rather than, as matters stand, the district registrar, thereby streamlining the process.

I will amend the Civil Liability Act 1961 to provide for an alternative indexation rate for periodic payment orders to be considered, if more suitable, so they can be set out by regulations made by the Minister for Justice with the consent of the Minister for Finance. I also hope to include a provision allowing courts to deal with cost orders in writing unless there is a need for an oral hearing.

I also intend to update the definition of "civil proceedings" in section 10 of the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 and to make express reference to criminal proceedings within the meaning of Part 4 of the Act, which will clarify the holding of proceedings, especially in relation to the operation of the Criminal Assets Bureau.

Finally, Part 15 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 provides for the making of regulations by the Minister for Justice for a pre-action protocol relating to clinical negligence actions. However, I have been informed that difficulties have arisen regarding the statutory basis for making pre-action protocol regulations pursuant to Part 15. I intend to bring forward amending legislation to address these difficulties for enactment as part of this Bill. The introduction of pre-action protocols is an important commitment in Justice Plan 2022.

I am considering recommending to the Government that an amendment to the Arbitration Act 2010 be included in this Bill at a later stage. This amendment would permit third-party funding in limited circumstances, specifically in commercial arbitration. This update to the legislation will have a positive impact and benefit to the international perception of the Irish legal framework, while removing any doubts regarding the ability to enforce arbitral awards in the State.

I appreciate this is wide-ranging Bill for which I have set out a number of important amendments, and I propose to bring more amendments on Committee Stage. The reason for me bringing many amendments at a later stage is that, as is the case with any miscellaneous Bill, there is always something to be added. It is important, however, that we get this Bill into the House and passed as quickly as possible. That is why I have set it out in this way and indicated the further work that is being done and will be completed by the time we reach Committee Stage. I thank the Deputies for taking time to consider these issues. Many of these issues, some of which are very minor and others more substantial, will make the law more efficient and effective in the areas that have been addressed. I look forward to hearing their comments.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

This Bill is mainly administrative but it contains a large number of minor changes. Some amendments will have positive impacts and the majority of them are very welcome. The delays in courts and the backlogs we have seen have become a serious concern. The ongoing review of the Judiciary and judicial system is reflected in the Bill.

The general consensus is that given that much of the law in this area dates back decades and, in some cases, centuries, parts of it need to be adjusted to the modern framework in which we work. That is clearly what this Bill is attempting to achieve, and it is welcome in that respect.

The Minister mentioned issues with bankruptcy law. We need to look into bankruptcy and the whole personal insolvency practitioner system. This will have greater relevance given the cost-of-living issues that have arisen. We all remember the crash of 2008-09 and the number of companies that went into bankruptcy and the number of people who fell into financial distress. The law at that time was not equipped properly to deal with that. There have been some changes since then but more are needed.

I am conscious of the international aspect of this and the promotional campaign under way in other common law countries to make Ireland a centre for international business. While there are opportunities for us in terms of the legal framework we have here, they will be hampered if we do not get all of this stuff right. It is important, therefore, that we work with the Minister to ensure that happens.

The Minister indicated she intends to introduce an amendment on Committee Stage in regard to Irish children born here of parents from outside the State who, under the current regulations, are not automatically entitled to citizenship. Something needs to be done about that and the amendment will be very welcome. We need to see this happen as quickly as possible. I am sure all Deputies in their constituencies, as well as Senators, will have come across people who were born, raised and went to school here and know only Ireland as their home, yet they are not Irish citizens. I find it very difficult to work that out. The process of naturalisation and the means of attaining citizenship must be sped up.

On the offence of obstructing a sheriff, I would like to tease that out a little and we probably will. It is one of the provisions that we require more detail on and the sooner we can get that, the better. Hopefully, we will discuss that in more detail on Report Stage.

In a number of evictions and repossessions, particularly of family homes, there have been issues with agents of banks, or whoever else, carrying out court-ordered evictions. Sometimes there have been very aggressive behaviour and unsavoury scenes in Dublin and other parts of the country, which have led to public outrage. We need to find a way of getting the law on that right, because the current law has flaws that are reflected in these serious situations.

The amendment to the Judicial Council Act is also welcomed. The independence of the Judiciary must be preserved, while at the same time issues of misconduct, or whatever one might call it, need to be addressed. There needs to be a mechanism to do that.

In general, the overall thrust of the Bill is welcome. There is too much in it. We could be here for hours if we were to go through it piece by piece. What we need to do is pass the Bill on Second Stage and try to work out on Committee Stage the areas on which we differ in focus or analysis. However, in general, the Bill is welcome and I hope we can move it along quickly. I hope we will work through the areas on which we may have differences of opinion or issues on which we want more clarity. We will work in co-operation to bring the Bill through the House.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have to go, I am afraid.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I do not think this Bill will make many headlines but it is obviously important. Deputy Kennedy said-----

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Deputy Kenny.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

That is twice I have done that.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

You put "Deputy" and "Kenny" together and got "Kennedy".

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I was thinking of a really good Teachta Dála.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

While the Deputy is recovering, I want to inform Members watching that we are moving through this debate swiftly, and if they wish to speak on it, this is the opportunity to do so.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

That gives me an opportunity to start my contribution again.

As Deputy Kenny said, law reform is similar to gardening in that it requires frequent maintenance. There probably have been times when that has not happened and there have been unintended consequences of old legislation that requires updates. It is good to see we are dealing with some of that.

There was some concern that the text of the Bill differed from the heads of the Bill. I would have been somewhat worried about the issue of citizenship but the Minister has addressed that. Hopefully, we will be able to deal with the situation of families with children who fear deportation to a country they have never known.

We definitely need to deal with that issue.

With reference to the amendment of the Bankruptcy Act 1988, we all remember the huge difficulties we had during the financial crash and the fact that we had bankruptcy legislation that was not fit for purpose. We had almost Victorian notions regarding bankruptcy, although the legislation has been updated. We all accept, however, that there are still means to improve it. We are talking about people who find themselves in a difficult set of circumstances. We must do all we possibly can to facilitate them in getting out of that. We had cases of people being in and out of prison on serious charges and spending less time in difficulty than those who faced bankruptcy. As we enter a troubling period with serious economic dangers ahead, we could be looking at more instances of this. Hopefully, that will not be the case, but we need to make sure we have the legislative tools to deal with this.

We all know businesses that are under severe pressure due to inflation, particularly in energy costs. We have all spoken on various issues concerning particular businesses and families and households. At times, we need to find more bespoke solutions. There will be a need for more of those as we continue. As I said, we need to ensure we have a decent bankruptcy process so that people will be able to resolve their debts and businesses will be able to earn their way back to profitability. A fair and clear system is what everybody is looking for.

We need to do a piece of work on the offence of obstructing the sheriff. We have all seen and heard of repossessions and evictions where gardaí have been present to back up security firms. We have seen security firms manhandle tenants. We need to address this. I accept that the Garda has work to do in maintaining public order but we need to make sure there are also protections for tenants who find themselves in difficult circumstances. We need to do everything to ensure security firms operate within the law and are subject to sufficient controls and constraints. Tenants' peace and security can be threatened by eviction.

The law needs to protect property rights but we are all aware of the circumstances we are in. One solution that is required is a moratorium on evictions. As I said, there are particular worries with regard to businesses and farms. With anything related to evictions, we need to make sure proper actions are in place.

Amendments to the Judicial Council are obviously very important. It is our role to set rules by which the Judiciary must function in every sense of the word. The establishment of the Judicial Council and Judicial Appointments Commission are important developments, although we could have done without the various scandals that ensured they were established in the first instance.

The amendments are important to enable an independent complaints process to function. The substitution of another judge where a complaint is made against a judge is a good development. The real test will come when substantive complaints are made and adjudicated on. We have all had people contact us with particular complaints. I will not get into the rights and wrongs in that regard. The fact is, however, that people sometimes feel hard done by on the basis that we did not have a decent system in place in which they could see there was fairness. We are trying to put in place a fair system that works for all of us.

The Bill relates to the functioning of the courts overall. It would be remiss of me not to ask what is the status of the Government's review into judicial resources. The Minister stated earlier accepted that we obviously do not have a fit-for-purpose system in that we have the lowest number of judges per capitain Europe. That needs to be resolved. For all crimes, from minor offences up to very serious crimes, even when work is done by the Garda to be put in front of a court, it could take three or four years before we see anything happen in the Circuit Court. That is just not good enough. Very dangerous criminals will not be remanded in prison for a long time, which can create particular difficulties. We also know that justice should be swift. Beyond that, it create difficulties with regard to people who are planning to be witnesses. It allows time for others to organise impediments to those people following through on giving their testimonies. We need to ensure this matter is dealt with. We have massive backlogs and the sooner we deal with them, the better. We have had significant population growth and we need to do that piece of work in future. We use the term "workforce planning" with regard to all Departments and sectors at this point. We do not need to continue with these bottlenecks in judicial resources. We need to make sure we have enough throughput of judges and whatever other resources are required.

Part 6 amends the International Protection Act 2015. This is to correct a cross-reference and clarify provisions relating to revocation of a protection declaration, including clarifications in relation to Circuit Court jurisdiction and appeal to the High Court on a point of law. We are facing into a refugee crisis and it is difficult to envisage that it will not be an ongoing crisis. We are dealing with huge issues with climate change. There is instability across the world and a large number of places are, were or are still being ravaged by war. We need to make sure we have the law and the right system in place. Beyond that, we need to make sure that in our actions, we are providing people with the protections they require when they end up in this country seeking asylum from absolutely dreadful sets of circumstances. We need to do that because as we face into the very dangerous time ahead, we know certain elements will try to make hay, particularly with regard to issues that relate to refugees. We must not allow that to happen. This means providing a proper system. Beyond that, we must do a wider piece of work to protect the rest of society, some of which I discussed earlier.

We support this legislation. There will be considerable analysis and conversation on Committee Stage.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I announced earlier that the debate was moving quickly. Deputy Ó Murchú's contribution closes the debate.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thought I gave others enough time to make it to the House.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I call the Minister of State to make his concluding speech.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their contributions and their welcome for the Bill. It is mostly administrative in nature and while the amendments may appear to be minor, they also make important changes, the majority of which, as Deputy Martin Kenny said, are positive. In particular, the Bill will help to modernise many of the areas around the administration of the courts. This will have a real impact because, as we know, delays in the court system cause great stress to people. A number of the elements of this legislation will also help to reduce costs.

I listened to the concerns raised by Deputies Kenny and Ó Murchú about teasing out the role sheriffs will have following the amendments and ensuring the bankruptcy elements of the Bill are effective. As Deputy Ó Murchú said, we want to ensure there is fairness for all here. The system must be fair, effective and work efficiently but primacy must be given to achieving fairness for those who are going through the system and minimising costs.

As I said, I thank the Deputies for their contributions to the debates today and yesterday on the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022.

As the House is aware, miscellaneous Bills such as this one offer an important opportunity to bring legislation up to date and make important technical and policy amendments that do not necessitate their own stand-alone legislation. The statutory reforms outlined in the Bill fulfil a commitment set out in the Department of Justice's 2021 action plan, provide a number of important reforms in the law across a broad range of areas, and play a key role in the series of measures that my Department continues to introduce in order to improve access to justice and modernise the courts system. The positive changes arising from this Bill will be felt across diverse areas, including bankruptcy, Irish nationality and citizenship, international protection, immigration, legal services, legal aid and the Judicial Council.

As the Minister outlined, it is intended to table a number of amendments to the Bill on Committee Stage, including those in the areas of occupiers' liability, data protection and third-party funding of commercial arbitration. I wish to state my appreciation for the Deputies' contributions to the debate and I look forward to their participation and engagement continuing as the Bill progresses.