Emergency legislation could give non-prosecuting gardaí right of audience in District Court
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James Lawless
Emergency legislation could be introduced to give non-prosecuting gardaí a right of audience before the District Court to address the “turmoil” caused by a recent High Court ruling, the chair of the Oireachtas justice committee has suggested.
Ms Justice Marguerite Bolger ruled this week that Order 6 Rule 1 of the District Court Rules was ultra vires insofar as it purported to grant rights of audience to non-prosecuting gardaí, which was contrary to the meaning of section 8 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005.
James Lawless TD said the government has a “slight window” of opportunity to address the issue before final orders are made by the High Court in around two weeks’ time, the Irish Examiner reports.
He said: “There are two ways to go. In the Circuit Court you have prosecutorial counsel, state barristers or solicitors. They could run all cases in the District Court […] or you look at changing the law.”
Mr Lawless said the Circuit Court model could be applied “in the space of maybe a month, maybe six weeks” and that it “wouldn’t be terribly complicated”. However, he said the existing system where gardaí prosecute cases had worked “reasonably well”.
The Fianna Fáil backbencher also raised concerns that “anybody who was prosecuted or even that pleaded guilty” in cases where non-prosecuting gardaí appeared in the District Court could now challenge their convictions.
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