Seanad debates

Wednesday, 5 December 2012

Personal Insolvency Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed)

 

3:40 pm

Photo of Alan ShatterAlan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, I shall deal with the questions raised by Senator Mooney. There will be specialist judges. They are called "specialist judges" in the legislation but I am sure the term will not be used in court. They will be just addressed as "judge". It would be a bit odd to address them the other way.

As I have said, they will have additional functions. The initial functionality will relate to the insolvency legislation but they will continue to be able to deal with certain applications currently dealt with by country registrars. County registrars deal with certain court applications at the moment and they will still be able to do this.

I have referred to the forthcoming mental capacity Bill on assisted decision making and there will be a role for specialist judges in that regard. We will completely reform the wards of court structure that exists and replace it with a new format. There will be a role for the Circuit Court although this area is largely confined to the High Court at the moment. Other appropriate functions may be assigned to county registrars by legislation from time to time.

Senator Coghlan asked about the numbers. Currently, we have 23 country registrars. If six were appointed there would be 17 left. The prospective scenario is based on the work currently done by country registrars and we anticipate that 17 could cope fully with the work 23 do at present. The position at the moment is that they represent an under-utilised resource. I have moved throughout the country during the past 18 months and met some of our country registrars. They have complained to me that they could do more work and that they would like to have additional functions assigned to them. I believe they will welcome the new functions assigned here and the opportunity afforded to their role effectively as a specialist judge of the Circuit Court rather than a county registrar. This will have them engaged in different work and extricate some, who have been there for a long time, from the more administrative work they have had to do over the years.

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