Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 April 2004
110 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs his views on the Law Reform Commission report on the future use and organisation of the courts poor box system, and the suggested role his Department should play in this. [11815/04]
View answer151 Mr. J. O’Keeffe asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs his views on the Law Reform Commission recommedation to establish a court charity fund; and the way he envisages that moneys from such a fund will be disbursed. [11371/04]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 110 and 151 together.
The Law Reform Commission usually adopts a two-stage approach to publication of its review work: a consultation paper, and a report. A consultation paper is intended to form the basis for discussion and, accordingly, the recommendations contained in it are provisional. The Law Reform Commission invites submissions on the provisional recommendations. The submissions received in response to the public consultation stage subsequently inform preparation of the report.
The review work which is the subject of both questions is at the first stage: the Law Reform Commission published a consultation paper on the court poor box on 30 March 2004, with a deadline for submissions of 31 August 2004. The consultation paper is available on the commission's website, www.lawreform.ie and, in accordance with the usual practice, the recommendations which it contains are provisional.
The principal provisional recommendations might be summarised as follows: replacement of the current court poor box system, which has been developed by judges as a common law power over many centuries and is not regulated by any legislation, by a statutory scheme, the court charity fund disposition, to be available in the District and Circuit Courts in appropriate cases; where the court does not record a conviction, availability of the court charity fund disposition in respect of summary offences only, subject to a prescribed list of factors; a ceiling, at the limit of the jurisdiction of the District and Circuit Courts, on the maximum amount payable to the court charity fund; application of the funds generated by the replacement scheme for the benefit only of trusts for the relief of poverty, trusts for the advancement of education or religion and trusts for other purposes beneficial to the community to be excluded from the scope of application.
As a guide only to the shape of the proposed reform, the consultation paper contains in appendix a draft scheme of the court charity fund Bill, updating and amending as appropriate various Acts under the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, including the Probation of Offenders Act 1907, the Criminal Justice (Community Service) Act 1983, and the Criminal Justice Act 1993.
The core provisional recommendation to replace the court poor box system by a statutory scheme, together with key features of such a new scheme as proposed in the consultation paper, would be matters for consideration in the first instance by, amongst others, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Courts Service, the Judiciary, the Revenue Commissioners and the National Crime Council. Any eventual decision arising would be a matter for Government in the context of approving proposals for legislation.
As regards the administration of any funds raised by a new statutory scheme, the consultation paper indicates that one possibility would be to recommend that such a separate fund be established within an appropriate Department, for example, the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. However, the Law Reform Commission recognises that this is uncharted territory, and as such submissions on the administration and distribution of such funds, and in particular the appropriate body to be designated responsible for this role, are welcome.
I trust that the Deputies find this information helpful, pending publication later in the year by the Law Reform Commission of its report, which will set out definitive recommendations, developed with the benefit of submissions made in response to the public consultation under way.
