Legislative Process

Tuesday, 1 February 2022

Ceisteanna (610)

Denis Naughten

Ceist:

610. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Justice if she will provide a list of Acts or sections or other provisions of Acts for which a commencement order has yet to be signed in her Department; the reason for the delay; when commencement orders will be signed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4765/22]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice

Details of Acts or sections or other provisions of Acts for which a commencement order has yet to be signed in my Department are provided in the table below, along with he reason for any delay and when commencement orders will be signed.

Relevant Act	Details	Reason for not having been commenced	When commencement order will be signed
Private Security Services (Amendment) Act 2021	Section 2(1)(a) insofar as it relates to the insertion of the definitions of “court messenger” and “enforcement guard” not yet commenced.	The Private Security Authority is preparing the regulations which will be needed to prescribe the licensing of enforcement guards.	It is the intention to commence Section 2(1)(a) as soon as the regulations are complete.
Judicial Council Act 2019	Sections 3, 42, 53-64, 67-84, 86, 88	These sections concern judicial conduct and ethics provisions of the Act, and have not been brought in to operation as the relevant guidelines have not been adopted by the Judicial Council.	The provisions will be brought into operation after the relevant guidelines have been adopted by the Judicial Council.
Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020	Section 32	Concerns were raised by some members of the legal profession on this provision, relating to the execution of counterpart documents. The Department sought the advice of the Attorney General in regard to those concerns and as such, the commencement of this provision was delayed to fully consider the issue.	The Department is currently consulting with the Attorney General on this issue and an update will be provided in due course.
Data Protection Act 2018	Section 30	The Office of the Attorney General advised the Department that the compliance of this section with the requirements of the GDPR required further consideration and the matter is being examined.	As detailed, there are serious matters that require consideration, including in relation to the risk of infringement proceedings against Ireland, in the context of any commencement of section 30.
Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Act 2021	Sections 4, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16	These sections concern a ‘confirmation of truth’ document, and the Insolvency Service and Courts Service are working on the necessary rules and form to enable commencement.	The Sections can be commenced when the required rules and form are in place.
Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017	Section 52	Section 52 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 provides for the offence of incest by females (contained in section 2 of the Punishment of Incest Act 1908) to be scheduled to the Criminal Procedure Act 2010. The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences)(Amendment) Act 2019 amended the penalty for the offence of incest by females to provide for the same penalty to apply to both women and men. Repeal of section 52 of the 2017 Act is now under consideration following the commencement of the 2019 Act.	The repeal of this section is currently under consideration.
Criminal Justice Act 2017	Sections 2, 4, 7, 11 and 12	Sections 2, 4, 11 and 12 are technical amendments concerning the questioning of persons detained pending access to legal advice, which are being re-examined in the context of the Garda Powers Bill. Section 7 concerns electronic monitoring and cannot be commenced until implementation arrangements are in place.	The Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill is currently in drafting. It is intended to publish that Bill in Q3 of this year and a decision will be taken on commencement on those provisions at that point. Section 7 will be commenced once all implementation arrangements are in place.
Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017	Section 30(b)(ii)Section 30(d)	All courts except District 18 of the District Court are commenced. Waiting for confirmation that video link facilities are in place.Other than for the Central Criminal Court, the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court and the Dublin Metropolitan District of the District Court as screens are not yet available.	These provisions will be commenced as soon as the relevant facilities are in place.
Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Act 2018	Section 32	This section makes the Legal Services RegulatoryAuthority (LSRA) a ‘State competent authority’ in respect of barristers who are not members of the Bar Council. This gives it certain supervisory powers over those barristers. As the LSRA was not yet fully operational at the date of commencement of the Act, it was not possible to commence this section at the time.	Commencement of this section is no longer necessary as the obligations under section 32 were overtaken with the commencement of SI 502/2019 wherein the Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA) was made a competent authority.
Counterfeiting Act 2021	Section 29	Section 29 has been given effect to by S.I. No. 408/2021 - European Union (Counterfeiting of Euro) Regulations 2021.	Commencement of this section is no longer necessary due to SI 408/2021.
Criminal Procedure Act 2021	Whole Act	Awaiting Rules of Court.	This Act will be commenced once the relevant Rules of Court has been drafted by the Rules Committee.
Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Act 2019	Part 13 (sections 91 to 94) (Extradition provisions)	Not commenced as UK transition period was extended from end March 2019 to end December 2020.	These sections will not be commenced as similar provisions later included in Part 16 (sections 108 – 111) of the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Act 2020 replaced them. These sections were commenced with effect from 31 December 2020.