The Gazette 1972

Estimates for Department of Justice MINISTER'S SPEECH IN DÁIL ÉIREANN 1972

present under consideration. One of the committee's reports deals with the criminal jurisdiction of the High Court and another with appeals from conviction on indictment. 1 am having the committee's recommend- ations in these reports examined and I hope to introduce amending legislation in due course. Further reports of the committee deal with (1) the service of court documents by post, (2) the fees of pro- fessional witnesses, (3) proof of previous convictions, (4) the interest rate on judgment debts, (5) the jurisdic- tion and practice of the Supreme Court, (6) the organi- sation of the courts, (7) the rights of audience of solicitors in the courts, (8) the liability of barristers for professional negligence and (9) the extension of the "on-the-spot" system to offences other than parking offences. Provision has been made in the Courts Act, 1971, for an extension of the registered post mode of service of documents of the superior courts and for a right of audience for solicitors in all our courts. The Government authorised me to arrange for the implementation of the committee's recommendations in regard to fees of profesional witnesses, and new rules of court in this regard, in which 1 have concurred, were made by the Superior Courts Rules Committee. The remain : ng matters dealt with in the reports of the Committee on Court Practice and Procedure are being examined. The Landlord and Tenant Commission The Landlord and Tenant Commission have so far presented two reports dealing with specific issues. Their first report deals with the renewal of occupational tenancies under the 1931 Landlord and Tenant Act. The second report deals with extensions of the rights of renewal and of outright purchase given by the Land- lord and Tenant Acts from 1931 to 1967 and enjoyed by what may be called ground tenants. It covers, inter alia, the renewal of the tenancies of sports clubs in certain circumstances. I have already mentioned the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act, 1971. This is the first instalment of legislation which arises from the recommendations of the commission. All the recom- mendations made by the commission have been accepted by the Government subject only to relatively minor amendments. The acceptance involves the promotion of legislation to make considerable changes in the Landlord and Tenant Acts of 1931, 1958 and 1967. These changes will be embodied in a comprehensive Bill which has already been introduced as the Landlord and Tenant Bill, 1970. This will be a complicated piece of legislation involving the amendment of the Acts of 1931, 1958 and 1967 and their consolidation with the Act of 1971. It will be recalled that owing to the complexity of the Bill, I decided that it was necessary to abstract from it the more urgently-needed provisions and to introduce them as a separate Bill. That separate Bill was since enacted as the Landlord and Tenant (Amend- ment) Act, 1971. The text of the comprehensive Bill is now being settled and it will be circulated as soon as possible—I hope before the summer recess. After pre- senting their first two reports, the commission com- menced their main work, that is, a review of the whole law of landlord and tenant, apart from questions bearing on the scope and policy of rent control. This review involves an examination of the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1860, commonly known as Deasy's Act. 172

Mr. O'Malley: My Department, among its other activities, is engaged in an extensive programme of law reform. In the ten years since the programme was launched, substantial progress has been made as is evidenced by the law reform measures which have already reached the Statute Book. Of its nature, law reform is a long-term project involving the giving of priority to certain items. Various practical consider- ations affect the rate of progress—in particular, the limited number of skilled staff available for this work. The house dealt last year with two Law Reform measures, namely, the Courts Act, 1971, and the Land- lord and Tenant (Amendment) Act, 1971. The first of these provides for increases in the civil jurisdiction of the Circuit and District Courts and deals with a number of other important matters relating to the functions and operation of the courts. The other Act deals with a number of urgent matters in the field of landlord and tenant law including a grant of a new type of lease to sports organisations in certain circumstances. Incident- ally, this latter Act is an interim measure which will be absorbed into a comprehensive Landlord and Tenant Bill now being prepared. Among the law reform measures in various stages of preparation are (1) a Charities Bill to make new provi- sion for the incorporation of charity trustees, to make special provision in relation to charities that are governed by Private Acts of Parliament or by Charters and to amend the Charities Act, 1961, in certain respect; (2) a Criminal Injuries Bill which will consoli- date, amend and reform the law relating to malicious or criminal injuries to property or to the person; (3) the comprehensive Landlord and Tenant Bill which I have already referred to; (4) a Court and Court Officers Bill which will contain provisions to implement recom- mendations made in the sixteenth interim report of the Committee on Court Practice and Procedure in relation to the jurisdiction of the Master of the High Court and will include a number of other important provisions relating to the Courts and Court Officers; and (5) a Registry of Deeds Bill. Other legislative proposals which are being prepared include (6) Bills to provide for the enforcement of foreign judgments and maintenance orders and recommendations and (7) a Bll to deal with the jury system, a subject on which recommendations have been received from the Committee on Court Prac- tice and Procedure. Hie Committee on Court Practice and Procedure. They have submitted 17 interim reports up to the present. The first of these reports dealt with the procedure for the preliminary investigation of indictable offences and legislation based on the report has been enacted, namely, the Criminal Procedure Act, 1967. Another of the reports dealt with the question of increased jurisdic- tion for the Circuit and District Courts and this, as I mentioned a moment ago, is a matter that has been provided for in the Courts Act, 1971. The jury system forms the subject-matter of three interim reports of the committee and, arising out of the recommendations contained in these three reports, legis- lative proposals relating to the jury system are at