PART IX

District Court

37. —Paragraph 3 (1), (2) and (3) of the Sixth Schedule to the Act of 1961 are hereby amended by the substitution of the following therefor:

“3.—(1) A judge of the District Court who is permanently assigned to a particular district may, with his or her consent, from time to time be temporarily assigned by the President of the District Court to another district, but such temporary assignment shall be without prejudice to the exercise and performance by him or her of the privileges, powers and duties for the time being conferred or imposed on him or her by law in relation to the district to which he or she is permanently assigned.

(2) A judge of the District Court who is not for the time being permanently assigned to a district may from time to time be assigned by the President of the District Court to any district.

(3) A temporary judge of the District Court may from time to time be temporarily assigned by the President of the District Court to any district.”.

38. —Section 39 of the Act of 1961, is hereby amended by the substitution of the following section therefor:

“Number of judges permanently assigned to districts.

39.—The Minister may after consultation with the President of the District Court, determine the number of judges in the District Court to be assigned permanently to the Dublin Metropolitan District or other District Court District and may from time to time, as the Minister thinks fit, after consultation with the said President, alter the number of judges to be assigned to a particular District.”.

39. —The Act of 1961 is hereby amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 42:

“(a) arrange for the distribution of the business of the District Court in the Dublin Metropolitan District or in such other District Court District where more than one judge is permanently assigned amongst the judges of the District Court assigned to the Dublin Metropolitan District or to such other District Court District, and”.

40. —The Act of 1961 is hereby amended by the substitution of the following section for section 44:

“Ex officio members of District Court Rules Committee.

44.—The ex officio members of the District Court Rules Committee established by section 71 of the Act of 1936, as applied by section 48 of this Act, shall be the President of the District Court (who shall be chairperson of the Committee) and such one of the district court clerks as the Minister shall nominate in that behalf, who shall be secretary of the Committee.”.

41. — Section 79 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1924 , is hereby amended by the insertion of the following subsections:

“(2) On the coming into operation of section 41 of the Courts and Court Officers Act, 1995, where a judge for the time being assigned to a District Court District is unavailable, any judge of the District Court may exercise jurisdiction, subject to subsection (3) of this section, in respect of such District in a criminal case in any place in the State.

(3) A judge of the District Court exercising jurisdiction under subsection (2) of this section shall not have jurisdiction to conduct a preliminary examination under the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1967 , unless that jurisdiction is exercised in the District Court District—

(a) where the crime was committed, or

(b) where the accused resides or was arrested.

(4) Where a person accused of a criminal offence is before a judge of the District Court in a District other than the District in which the crime has been committed or where the accused resides or was arrested, the judge may, on his or her own motion or on the application of the accused or the prosecution, transfer the case to the District Court District where the offence was committed or where the accused resides or was arrested.

(5) On the coming into operation of section 41 of the Courts and Court Officers Act, 1995, notwithstanding anything contained in section 16 (2) of the Courts Act, 1981 , any judge of the District Court may make an order under the Guardianship of Infants Act, 1964 , where he or she is satisfied that the circumstances require that such an order be made as a matter of urgency.”.