Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1997

Jurisdiction of District Court and place of remand.

5.—(1) Notwithstanding section 27 (3) of the Courts of Justice Act, 1953 , the court before which a person first appears charged with a particular offence or a judge of the District Court exercising jurisdiction under subsection (2) of section 79 of the Act of 1924 (inserted by section 41 of the Courts and Court Officers Act, 1995 ) may remand that person in custody to appear at a sitting of the District Court (“alternative court”) in the District Court District in which the prison or place of detention where he or she is to be held in custody is situated or a District Court District adjoining the first-mentioned District Court District.

(2) The alternative court may, from time to time, as occasion requires, further remand a person, referred to in subsection (1) of the said section 79, in custody or on bail, to that court or to another alternative court.

(3) An alternative court shall, for the purposes of the conduct of a preliminary examination under the Act of 1967 in relation to a person, or, as the case may be, the trial of a person, remand the person to a sitting of the court in the District Court District—

(a) in which the offence to which the preliminary examination or trial relates was committed, or

(b) in which the person resides or was arrested.

(4) The said section 79 is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3):

“(3) A judge of the District Court exercising jurisdiction under subsection (2) shall not have jurisdiction to—

(a) conduct a preliminary examination under the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1967 , or

(b) try an accused for an offence, unless that jurisdiction is exercised in the District Court District—

(i) in which the offence was committed, or

(ii) in which the accused resides or was arrested.”.

(5) Subsection (4) of the said section 79 shall not apply to an alternative court.

(6) Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act, 1962 , is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1) If it appears to the District Court before which a person is charged with an offence or an alternative court within the meaning of section 5 of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1997 before which a person is appearing—

(a) that the means of the person before it are insufficient to enable him to obtain legal aid, and

(b) that by reason of the gravity of the offence with which he is charged or of exceptional circumstances it is essential in the interests of justice that he should have legal aid in the preparation and conduct of his defence before it,

the said District Court or the alternative court, as may be appropriate, shall, on application being made to it in that behalf, grant a certificate, in respect of him, for free legal aid (in this Act referred to as a legal aid (District Court) certificate) and thereupon he shall be entitled to such aid and to have a solicitor and (where he is charged with murder and the said District Court or the alternative court, as the case may be, thinks fit) counsel assigned to him for that purpose in such manner as may be prescribed by regulations under section 10 of this Act.”.