Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 396: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his legislative plans which will give the courts greater discretion on the way trials are to be conducted and enable them to give directions as to document exchange and scheduling of witnesses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40053/08]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 397: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when he will put in place a structure whereby the defence will accept certain kinds of technical evidence by certificate of gardaí unless they can show good reason for the gardaí to be physically present in court; when he will put in place a structure whereby technical evidence, particularly search warrants, are presumed to be valid unless contradictory evidence can be produced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40054/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 396 and 397 together.

In general, courts have discretion, subject to the requirements of the administration of justice, as to the directions they may give in a particular case to enable a trial to be conducted expeditiously, including directions for exchange of documents. Moreover, case management regimes, for example, have been in operation in the High Court in the areas of commercial proceedings, family law proceedings and some other categories of litigation. I understand that, borrowing on the experience of those regimes, proposals to introduce case progression procedures in respect of further litigation categories in the High Court are currently being studied by the Judiciary.

Most recently, with the signing into law of the Circuit Court Rules (Case Progression in Family Law Proceedings) 2008 — the Statutory Instrument which I signed on the 12th September last — County Registrars have been conferred with important powers to assist in expediting family law proceedings in the Circuit Court. Those rules assign to the County Registrar, through case progression hearings, the functions of overseeing preparation of family law cases for trial, setting timetables for completion of pre-trial steps, generally monitoring the progress of the case pre-trial, and making final arrangements for the trial.

The Third Programme of work of the Law Reform Commission is now under way. In 2008, the Commission began a project on documentary evidence and technology. Documentary evidence is an essential element of nearly all litigation. This project will discuss the rules concerning proof of execution and authentication of documents, and consider the need for their modernisation. The project will also consider whether electronic evidence should be regulated as a separate category of evidence. My Department will give careful consideration to the findings of the Commission.

The amount of time potentially spent by Gardaí in court proceedings was noted in a recent report of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate. It also noted that within the Dublin Metropolitan Region a Court Presenter system is in place in the Dublin Metropolitan Court District and that outside the DMR the local District Officer is the Prosecuting Officer, representing the Director of Public Prosecutions, for the majority of prosecutions before the District and Circuit Courts.

The Inspectorate welcomed developments in the Court Presenter system which frees up significant Garda time from court duty. The Inspectorate has suggested that this scheme should be extended to all courts throughout the Dublin Metropolitan Region. They have also suggested that the Superintendents assigned outside of the Dublin Metropolitan Region should be relieved of their Court Prosecution role. The recommendations of the Inspectorate are currently the subject of examination in my Department.