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

I thank the House for its co-operation on this Bill which has grown as we have brought it through the House. It started off as a relatively modest courts Bill. In the context of the myriad issues that I am anxious we address and the reforms that I want to see implemented, it has proved, because having published it we let it sit for some time to give different groups and individuals an opportunity to consider its contents and make submissions on it, particularly in the matter of the reporting on family and child care cases, to be a useful legislative vehicle to try to address some other reforming issues. There were still others that I had hoped we might be able to deal with, but, unfortunately, that did not prove possible in the timeframe involved.

I can tell Senator Jillian van Turnhout that I can guarantee that we will have another civil law (miscellaneous provisions) Bill sometime in the next 12 months to address a number of other issues, in respect of which I have got bees in my bonnet, that I want to reform and that affect important areas but to which we could not devote a Bill on its own. There are one or two further amendments to the Insolvency Act that we did not have ready for the Seanad that I expect we will introduce in the Dáil, which means that this Bill will revisit this House for a short time following its progress through the Dáil. I am not sure whether the Attorney General will put up with my adding any subject matter to it. I do not think we will do this.

I thank Senators for their very careful and detailed consideration of all the provisions in the Bill. At its heart, the Bill is important, from its starting point. It will have a dramatic impact on the courts system and we are effecting very important reforms. For 20 years the jurisdictional basis of the courts and civil proceedings has remained unchanged. No notice has been taken of the increase in the cost of living. The reality is that today the District Court has, because of the increase in monetary values, a far more restrictive jurisdiction than it had in 1991, which is bizarre based on current values. In the Bill we are increasing its jurisdiction to €15,000 across the board generally. It is only €6,000 now. Had we simply dealt with cost of living issues, it would be in the region of €10,500. That indicates the extent to which the value of monetary disputes has diminished in the District Court during the years. The same applies to the Circuit Court. It has had a jurisdiction generally in the region of just over €38,000 since 1991. Based on inflation, even to keep step with 1991 values, it should be in the region of approximately €65,000. We are increasing it to €75,000 to take cognisance of the fact that this is important to the stability of the jurisdiction for a number of years and to take account of what are the appropriate capacities in both courts. The effect of this will be that a substantial amount of work currently undertaken by the Circuit Court will now be done at District Court level. It will save substantial legal costs for those who have to resort to court proceedings. Some of the litigation that currently takes place in the High Court will, when the Bill becomes operative, be undertaken at Circuit Court level. For those who need to use the court system in civil matters, there will be substantial savings in legal costs. The other impact will be to free the High Court from some work in which it currently engages where there are disputes over sums of money below €75,000 which will in the future be addressed in the Circuit Court. The add-on impact will be fewer appeals to the Supreme Court. It will take some time for this to impact on the system because the cases initiated before these changes take effect will have to continue within the court system in which they have been taken.

It is my objective - this is why I am very anxious we complete the legislative process before the summer vacation - that the relevant provisions in the Bill will come into force very early in order that when the courts are open in October after the summer vacation, they will operate under the new financial jurisdictional limits. That is very important. The jurisdiction of the Circuit Court is being increased to only €60,000 in the case of personal injury actions. We will have a new approach in the context of jurisdiction, which is in the public interest. It will mean that we will better utilise the court structure. The exciting development for the court structure is that before we get too far into the autumn, we will have the referendum to establish a general court of appeal, which I hope will have the universal support of all sides of the House and will be supported by the public. This will be another brick in the wall of the reforming agenda that we are seeking to implement in the public interest, which is important.

I thank Members of the House for their assistance and co-operation and dealing in a very considered way with the additional matters we have now included in this legislation. I am sorry that I will be imposing on them again on matters that will arise in the Dáil that we could not have ready in time for the Seanad.