Extra judges may be needed after ruling on warrants

At least two new District Court judges may need to be appointed because of yesterday's Supreme Court ruling on search warrants, a senior judicial source said last night.

If District Judges are to do the work carried out by some 7,000 peace commissioners, "I would be surprised if it would not necessitate extra appointments," the source said. Yesterday's judgment is seen as a further undermining of the powers of peace commissioners.

Garda sources said the ruling could cause "enormous difficulties" for gardai attempting to get search warrants.

"Every town has two or three peace commissioners. This will cause logistical problems for obtaining a search warrant," a source said.

However, it is believed that gardai in some areas no longer rely to the same extent on peace commissioners after a number of cases which have seen their powers taken away.

Yesterday's ruling is the latest in a series of legal challenges to the powers of peace commissioners.

In 1989 the High Court ruled that the peace commissioner's power to grant or deny bail was unconstitutional. Gardai were instructed not to bring suspects before peace commissioners in bail proceedings.

The ruling put pressure on the District Court system, when judges found themselves called on to decide on bail in cases normally dealt with by peace commissioners.

In 1990 the Supreme Court ruled that a search warrant signed by a peace commissioner who relies entirely on written evidence by gardai was invalid.

The ruling resulted in a review of Garda applications for search warrants, and may have resulted in fewer warrant applications being made to commissioners.

At the time a senior barrister warned that a warrant signed by a peace commissioner would be seen as "a constitutionally dodgy animal".

There are no figures on the number of warrants issued by gardai, but, with some city stations dealing with up to 15 warrants a day, the total could be more than 30,000 a year.

There are also no reliable figures on the proportion of warrants signed by peace commissioners, and it is felt this varies according to the local availability of a District Judge.

Peace commissioners are appointed by the Minister for Justice "as the need arises", according to the Department of Justice.

Their duties include the taking of declarations and affirmations, signing certificates for licensing of clubs and signing certificates where food is deemed unfit.