Irish Government Publishes Civil Reform Bill.

Irish Government Publishes Civil Reform Bill To Overhaul Judicial Review And Streamline Courts Processes.

The General Scheme of the Civil Reform Bill includes measures to:

• Place Judicial Review on a statutory basis, with a public interest test at the centre of the process ensuring balance and protection of common good.
• Prevent abuse of the discovery process by introducing a new production regime that will be more effective, efficient and lead to lower costs.
• Raise monetary limits on the jurisdiction of the Circuit and District Courts, reducing legal costs by allowing more non-complex cases to be heard in lower courts.

The Irish Government has today published the General Scheme of the Civil Reform Bill to reform the Judicial Review mechanism and streamline other key courts processes.

The Civil Reform Bill is a key measure that will see the implementation of the Review of the Administration of Civil Justice, also known as the Kelly Report, which was published back in October 2020.
This Report made over 90 recommendations aimed at improving access to justice for all, by making it quicker, more efficient and more cost effective.

The Bill introduces reforms in relation to Discovery and Civil Procedure in the Courts, as well as a change to the monetary limits on the jurisdiction of the Circuit and District Courts.

The proposed Bill will also provide for a suite of civil reform measures including:

1. Creation of case conduct principles;
2. presumption against granting of adjournments;
3. pre-action protocols extended beyond clinical negligence proceedings;
4. limiting the term of a Lis Pendens;
5. deemed discontinuance of civil actions;
6. plaintiffs in personal injuries actions to distinguish between pre-existing injuries and those which are the subject of the claim;
7. extension of rules committees’ remit to include rules of evidence in civil proceedings.

The government feels confident that the Civil Reform Bill will remove weaknesses in the current law, eliminate impediments to progress and deliver reform that benefits the public and will also reserve the right of the citizen to ensure public bodies act lawfully and are accountable for their decisions.

The published Review of the Administration of Civil Justice can be found at the following link: HERE.