Court Proceedings (Delays) Act 2024

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Year: 2024
• Citation: IR No. 12/2024

Court Proceedings (Delays) Act 2024

2024 12

An Act to provide for the right of persons who are party to proceedings, where such proceedings are not concluded within a reasonable time, to seek a declaration of that fact and, in certain cases, compensation and, for that purpose to make provision for the making by such persons of applications for such a declaration and compensation and for the appointment of a Chief Court Delays Assessor and Court Delays Assessors to assess such applications; to provide for the making, in certain circumstances, of an application to the Circuit Court for such a declaration and compensation; and to provide for related matters.

[1 May 2024]

Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows:

1 Short title and commencement

(1) This Act may be cited as the Court Proceedings (Delays) Act 2024.

(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may by order or orders appoint either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.

2 Interpretation

(1) In this Act—

“Act of 2015” means the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015;

“Act of 2018” means the Data Protection Act 2018;

“applicant”, other than in the definition of “party” and Part 5, means a person who makes an assessment application in accordance with section 12 and, where the context so admits, includes an authorised person;

“assessment” means an assessment made under section 17;

“assessment application” shall be construed in accordance with section 12;

“Assessor” has the meaning assigned to it by section 5;

“authorisation” means, in relation to an applicant, an authorisation issued under section 20;

“authorised person” has the meaning assigned to it by section 31(4);

“Chief Assessor” has the meaning assigned to it by section 5;

“Convention” means the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms done at Rome on the 4th day of November, 1950, as amended by—

(a)

Protocol No. 11 done at Strasbourg on the 11th day of May 1994,

(b)

Protocol No. 14 done at Strasbourg on the 13th day of May 2004, and

(c)

Protocol No. 15 done at Strasbourg on the 24th day of June 2013;

“criminal proceedings” means proceedings against a person for an offence and includes any appeal proceedings related to the offence;

“data controller” has the meaning it has in the General Data Protection Regulation;

“declaration” means a declaration made by an Assessor under section 17(4) or the Circuit Court under section 24(6)(a), as the case may be, that a person’s right under section 11(1) has or has not been breached;

“document” includes—

(a)

a book, record or other written or printed material,

(b)

a photograph,

(c)

any information stored, maintained or preserved by means of any mechanical or electronic device, whether or not stored, maintained or preserved in legible form, and

(d)

any audio or video recording;

“European Court of Human Rights” means the European Court of Human Rights established under Article 19 of the Convention;

“General Data Protection Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 ¹1 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation);

“Minister” means the Minister for Justice;

“party” means, in relation to proceedings—

(a)

in the case of criminal proceedings, the defendant against whom proceedings for the offence concerned were instituted, and

(b)

in the case of any other proceedings, the plaintiff, defendant, applicant or respondent, as the case may be, in those proceedings;

“personal data” has the meaning it has in the General Data Protection Regulation;

“practising barrister” has the meaning it has in section 2(1) of the Act of 2015;

“practising solicitor” has the meaning it has in section 2(1) of the Act of 2015;

“proceedings” includes any cause, action, suit, matter, appeal or application in or to any court, and includes criminal proceedings;

“processing” has the meaning it has in the General Data Protection Regulation;

“public body” means—

(a)

a Minister of the Government,

(b)

a local authority, or

(c)

a body (other than a company formed and registered under the Companies Act 2014 or an existing company within the meaning of that Act) established by or under any enactment;

“relevant authority” means a body (other than the President or the Oireachtas or either House of the Oireachtas or a Committee of either such House or a Joint Committee of both such Houses) which is established by law or through which any of the legislative, executive or judicial powers of the State are exercised;

“relevant proceedings” means, in relation to an assessment application or an application under section 24, as the case may be, proceedings to which section 11 applies in respect of which a breach of the right under section 11(1) is asserted;

“right under section 11(1)” means the right referred to in section 11(1);

“special categories of personal data” has the meaning it has in the Act of 2018.

(2) In this Act, a reference to the conclusion of proceedings is a reference to proceedings having ended or having been ended, including where the period for appealing a decision or determination in those proceedings has expired without any such appeal having been made.

¹ OJ No. L 119, 4.5.2016, p.1.

3 Regulations

(1) The Minister may by regulations provide for any matter referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed.

(2) Where a provision of this Act requires or authorises the Minister to make regulations, such regulations—

(a)

may make different provision for different circumstances or cases, classes or types, and

(b)

may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the regulations.

(3) Every regulation made by the Minister under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House sits after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

4 Expenses

4. The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, be paid out of monies provided by the Oireachtas.

5 Appointment of Chief Assessor and Assessors

(1) The Minister shall appoint—

(a)

a person (in this Act referred to as the “Chief Assessor”) to be the Chief Court Delays Assessor, and

(b)

such and so many persons (each of whom in this Act shall be referred to as an “Assessor”) as the Minister considers appropriate to be Court Delays Assessors.

(2) The Chief Assessor shall, on the date of his or her appointment, be—

(a)

a retired judge of the District Court, the Circuit Court, the High Court, the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court, or

(b)

a practising barrister or practising solicitor of not less than 10 years’ standing.

(3) Each Assessor, other than the Chief Assessor, shall, on the date of his or her appointment, be—

(a)

a retired judge of the District Court, the Circuit Court, the High Court, the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court, or

(b)

a practising barrister or practising solicitor of not less than 5 years’ standing.

(4) Subject to this Act, an Assessor appointed under this Act shall be independent in the performance of his or her functions.

(5) A reference in this Act to an Assessor includes a reference to the Chief Assessor.

6 Term of appointment of Assessors

(1) Subject to this Act, an Assessor shall hold office for 5 years from the date of his or her appointment.

(2) An Assessor whose term of office expires by the effluxion of time shall be eligible for reappointment as an Assessor.

(3) The Chief Assessor and each Assessor shall be paid such remuneration (if any) as may be determined by the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform.

(4) The Chief Assessor and each Assessor shall be subject to such terms and conditions and be paid such allowances for expenses as the Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, determine.

7 Resignation, removal, disqualification, ineligibility for office of Assessor

(1) An Assessor may at any time resign from office by giving notice in writing to the Minister of his or her resignation and the resignation shall take effect on such date as may be specified in the notice.

(2) The Minister may at any time remove an Assessor from office for stated reasons if the Minister is satisfied that the Assessor—

(a)

has become incapable through ill-health of performing his or her functions,

(b)

has committed stated misbehaviour, or

(c)

is otherwise unfit to hold office or unable to discharge the functions of the office.

(3) An Assessor shall cease to be qualified for office as an Assessor and shall cease to hold such office if—

(a)

he or she is convicted on indictment of an offence,

(b)

he or she is convicted of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty,

(c)

he or she is sentenced by a court of competent jurisdiction to a term of imprisonment,

(d)

in the case of a person who was, at the date of his or her appointment as an Assessor, a practising barrister, his or her name is removed from the roll of practising barristers (within the meaning of section 2(1) of the Act of 2015)...