I ask leave to have printed and circulated to Deputies a Bill entitled the "Enforcement of Law (Occasional Powers) Bill, 1924." This Bill bears a striking resemblance to the Bill of the same name introduced last year. It provides for an increase in the number of under-sheriffs by means of temporary additional appointments in the larger and more troublesome counties, such as Galway and Cork, and for an increase in the number, and an improvement in the quality, of bailiffs by authorising under-sheriffs to take on additional bailiffs, to whom the State will pay small salaries in addition to fees; for the removal of certain limitations and checks which the ordinary law places on the operations of the under-sheriff, and the effect of which at present is to make it difficult or almost impossible for the under-sheriff to perform his duties; it also provides for an inquiry at District Courts into the accounts of judgement debtors who have no seizable chattels, but who have or who are able to have assets or sources of income which the under-sheriff cannot seize. It provides also for a speedier inquiry into the merits of claims made by third parties, for instance, a debtor's wife, to goods seized on the debtor's premises by the under-sheriff. I recognise that this is a Bill for which a substantial case ought to be made, even before it receives a First Reading.
The Bill that was introduced last year had a very salutary effect, but was too short-lived to prove a real remedy for the situation that existed. It had a lifetime of only six months. I propose to read to Deputies the situation with regard to the execution of Court Judgments as it was on the 1st February of the present year. I have returns here for almost all counties showing the number of decrees in the hands of under-sheriffs, and the amount of money represented by these decrees. In Carlow there are 134 decrees in the hands of the sheriff, representing £1,600; Cavan, 51 decrees, £400; Clare, 191 decrees, £5,400; Cork, 12 decrees, £400; Cork County, 589 decrees, representing £12,800; Dublin City, 58 decrees, £1,950; Dublin County 52 decrees; I have not got the sum of money in that case; Galway, 357 decrees, representing £3,600; Kerry, 203 decrees, representing £11,778. Kildare and Kilkenny are missing. I can say from my own knowledge that Kildare is practically normal, but Kilkenny is extremely bad. In Leitrim there are 95 decrees in the hands of the under-sheriff, but I cannot say at the moment the amount of money they represent. Leitrim, in this respect, but in no other, is almost normal. In Leix the number of decrees in the hands of the under-sheriff is 331, representing £9,700; Limerick, 270 decrees, £12,400; Limerick City, 86 decrees, £1,300; Longford, 18 decrees, £488; Louth, 151 decrees, £800; Mayo, 272 decrees, £6,700; Meath, 12 decrees, £600; Monaghan, 49 decrees, £550; Offaly, 215 decrees, £4,500; Roscommon, 258 decrees, £4,200; Sligo, 105 decrees, £800; Tipperary, 615 decrees, £27,600; Tirconaill, 962 decrees, £13,000; Waterford, 146 decrees, £2,500; Waterford City, 41 decrees, £1,800; Westmeath, 161 decrees, £8,000; Wexford, 334 decrees, £4,400; Wicklow, 114 decrees, £400.
That was the situation on the 1st February, and we find that over a period of two or three months back that the under-Sheriffs are barely keeping pace with the decrees, without making substantial inroads on the arrears of their work. For instance, on the 1st December over a particular 25 bailiwicks—there are altogether 35 bailiwicks in the Free State—but over a particular 25 bailiwicks for which full returns are available, the position on the 1st December was that there were 5,803 decrees in the hands of the under-Sheriffs, representing a total sum of money of £137,050, whereas for the same 25 bailiwicks on the 1st February you have in the hands of the under-Sheriff 5,724 decrees, representing £127,266, which is only a money reduction of £10,000. Reports from all the under-Sheriffs go to show the need for the changes which are proposed in the Bill that will be circulated. They also show that the mere fact that they have the powers which were given by the Bill of last year was in itself salutary, and that good results were secured without the necessity of resorting to these powers in practice at all. It would be, in the face of the situation revealed by these statistics I have read, little short of criminal negligence on my part not to introduce a Bill which is so urgently needed.
