Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern today announced he has signed legislation that has amended and modernised a number of laws within the civil law area.
The Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2008 introduces a number of changes in the court system, landlord and tenant law, and Acts relating to film censorship and parental leave, among other pieces of legislation.
In court law, the Act carries a provision that will allow the Government to appoint three new judges to the District Court to deal with cases involving children. Mr Ahern said the additional judges would help to ensure “speedier handling of cases involving children and a reduction in the number of repeat remands”.
A court in civil proceedings will also be allowed to give anonymity to a party or witness in certain cases where the person is suffering from a medical condition and being identified as having that condition would cause undue stress to the person.
The Act also removes the upper age limit for eligibility to sit on a jury, meaning that those aged over 70 are no longer ineligible - although anyone aged over 65 who is called for jury service will be able to excuse themselves,
The new legislation will also enable tenants of all kinds of business premises, after taking legal advice, to opt out of the statutory entitlement, after a business lease lasting five years, to a further lease of 20 years.
The intention of this amendment is ease the situation of business tenants on short leases whose landlords might have been unwilling to renew a lease for fear of committing themselves for a tenancy longer than they might wish.
“I am aware that the business community has been waiting for the important changes that it makes to landlord and tenant legislation which will liberalise the market in business rentals generally," Mr Ahern said.
Changes to the Video Recordings Act add a classification for video releases (fit for viewing by persons aged 12 years or more); create an offence of supplying a video to a person not in the correct classification; and update maximum fines for offences.
The office of the Film Censor is being renamed the Irish Film Classification Office and the Film Censor as Director of Film Classification, A criterion of "likely to cause harm to children" will now be considered when classifying films
The Parental Leave Act has also been amended to enable parents employed by the same employer, with the employer's consent, to transfer their parental leave to each other in whole or in part.
