Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 are designed to put in place a system to facilitate the signing of warrants where the person whose function that would normally be, namely, the District Court judge assigned to the district to which the warrant relates, is not available.

Section 32A of the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act 1961, which was introduced by the Criminal Justice Act 2006, established a process whereby a District Court judge can, even though outside the District Court district to which he or she is assigned, exercise the powers to issue arrest warrants, search warrants and other related warrants that relate to his or her District Court district. This section has been operating well enough as far as it goes. However, a difficulty has been encountered where the District Court judge assigned to a District Court district is not just outside the district in question but for the moment inaccessible within the normal turnaround time required, for instance, physically remote on a holiday.

The speed and capacity of modern communications are such that the need for a warrant may arise very quickly. However, there still must be a physical piece of paper that an arresting or searching officer can produce on demand to any person affected by it. If, for instance, the District Judge assigned to a district in Clare happens to be in Donegal and the urgent need arises in Clare for a warrant to search premises, it can be difficult under present arrangements. These amendments are proposed by the Government to deal with the difficulty.