Family Courts Act 2024
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Chapter 2 Creation and alteration of Family Circuit Court circuits and assignment of judges to Family Circuit Court | ||
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Family Circuit Court circuits | ||
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26. The Act of 1961 is amended— | ||
(a) in section 20, by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1): | ||
“(1A) The Family Circuit Court circuits created under section 20A (inserted by section 26 of the Act of 2024) shall be the circuits for the purposes of the Family Circuit Court.”, | ||
and | ||
(b) by the insertion of the following section after section 20: | ||
“Creation and alteration of Family Circuit Court circuits | ||
20A. (1) The circuits created under this section shall be circuits for the purposes of the Family Circuit Court. | ||
(2) The Government, after consultation with the President of the Circuit Court, the Principal Judge of the Family Circuit Court and the judges of the Family Circuit Court (if any) assigned to the circuits to which the order will relate, may by order— | ||
(a) divide the State into geographical areas (in this Act referred to as ‘Family Circuit Court circuits’) for the purposes of the Family Circuit Court, and | ||
(b) attach to each such circuit a name by which it shall be known. | ||
(3) The Government may, after consultation with the President of the Circuit Court, the Principal Judge of the Family Circuit Court and the judges of the Family Circuit Court (if any) assigned to the Family Circuit Court circuit to which the order will relate, by order do either or both of the following: | ||
(a) alter the composition of a Family Circuit Court circuit by adding or removing a part of a geographical area; | ||
(b) where appropriate, attach to the Family Circuit Court circuit a name by which it shall be known in substitution for its existing name. | ||
(4) An order under subsection (3) may make provision for the continuation and completion of any family law proceedings in a Family Circuit Court circuit to which the order relates— | ||
(a) initiated before the commencement of the order, and | ||
(b) not completed before such commencement. | ||
(5) For the purposes of subsection (4), proceedings shall be regarded as being initiated on the day on which the civil bill or other originating document relating to the proceedings is issued. | ||
(6) Every order made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House sits after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.”. |