Vol. 500 No. 7
366 Mr. Flanagan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if consideration will be given towards increasing the monetary limit from the present £600 to £2,500 in relation to the current review of the small claims court regime in view of the fact that the limit in this jurisdiction is considerably lower than that in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5227/99]
In line with the established policy in this issue, I propose that the monetary limit on small claims will be increased on a phased basis to £1,000. I expect to address the issue of increasing the monetary limit on claims which may be made under the procedure, which currently stands at £600, when my Department's review of the procedure is completed shortly.
In the context of the review my Department has, in recent months, reached agreement on the operation of the small claims procedure with the main staff interests involved.
Any move to increase the monetary limit above the £1,000 target should, I believe, be considered in the context of an examination of the experience of the procedure at the £1,000 level.
