Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

The District Court is available under the legislation and would be the first court to which persons would take a case. It is, by and large, relatively inexpensive to take a case to the District Court, albeit not as inexpensive as the Small Claims Court. The latter was designed to deal with minor, non-complex issues, whereas cases arising under the section are relatively complex and would require the adjudication of a District Court judge rather than the small claims procedure.