asked the Minister for Justice whether, in view of the present manner under which Land Commission and Board of Works decrees have been collected throughout the country, he is prepared to fix a reasonable scale of charges for collecting these decrees.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - COST OF COLLECTING DECREES.
The scales of fees and expenses payable to under-sheriffs in connection with the execution of execution orders are fixed by the Under Sheriffs' Fees Order, 1926, and were settled as recently as September, 1926, after full consideration and consultation with the undersheriffs. These scales have been fixed as low as possible having regard to the necessity for making provision for the effective enforcement of the judgments and orders of Courts of Justice. The Under-Sheriffs' Fees Order, 1926, does not make any distinction between the fees and expenses payable in connection with the execution of execution orders at the suit of the Land Commission or at the suit of the Office of Public Works, and the fees and expenses payable in connection with the execution of Court Orders generally and the existing scales apply to execution of Court Orders of every description.
Mr. CROWLEY
Is the Minister aware that at a Court held in Tipperary last June Judge Sealy made the following statement:—"There is no doubt that in these small cases the costs were abnormally high, a great deal too high; but as far as he was concerned he was only sitting there and carrying out certain rules of the Court"?
As far as I understand, that refers to costs. No question has been put to me with reference to costs. The question put to me is the charge by the sheriffs for collecting decrees.
Is the Minister aware that exorbitant fees have been charged by sheriffs' bailiffs for collecting decrees, and that these fees are not based on any fixed scale?
There is a fixed scale for Sheriffs' fees, and that scale must be observed. If the Deputy brings any case of abuse under my notice I will immediately deal with it.