PEACE COMMISSIONERS HAVE been working behind the scenes in communities since the 1920s, having replaced ‘Justices of the Peace’ in 1922. There are more than 5,000 of them around the country, but very few people know about them, unless they have needed their services at some stage, so we thought we tell you a bit about who they are and what exactly it is they do?
What is a Peace Commissioner?
A Peace Commissioner is a person appointed by the Minister for Justice and Equality to perform certain duties within the communities. It is an honorary position and every single area in the country has people performing these duties. With over 5,500 of them across Ireland, you might even be living next-door to one.
What do they do?
There are a wide range of duties these commissioners can perform but most of the time their work involves signing or witnessing signatures on documents by various authorities, like local councils. A Peace Commissioner can also be called on to sign a warrant for gardaí or a court summons, though this is one of the less prominent duties they perform nowadays.
Aileen Browne, who is a Peace Commissioner in Cork, told TheJournal.ie that she often signs forms for college students, or those doing work experience. “Nobody might look for you for a month and then you might get three calls in one week,” she said. Browne, who is also a local election candidate for Fine Gael, has been called upon a number of times to sign warrants for gardaí and said she even sat in on an interview with a person under 18 who had been arrested last summer.
Francis Timmons, Peace Commissioner for Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare, who is also an Independent election candidate, said he is normally called upon once or twice a week. “I mainly sign children’s passports and there are lots of teachers looking for references for schools, appeals for penalty points – things like that,” he said. “It wouldn’t be warrants so much, you rarely have the guards asking us to sign something like that because it holds more weight if it’s done in the district court.”
Can I do that?
Anyone can put themselves forward or be nominated to become a Peace Commissioner. However, any applications are required to submit information like their CV and everyone goes through a garda vetting procedure so if you have a criminal record, you’re not likely to be chosen.
Civil servants are usually only appointed where the performance of their official duties requires an appointment. Solicitors, people employed in legal offices and members of the clergy are also not appointed.
The Department of Justice says appointees are required to be of good character and they are usually well established in the local community. Many of the people who put themselves forward for the role are involved, or become involved in politics, like the two we spoke to. These are generally the easiest ones to find as they are eager to get their names and faces out there, for obvious reasons.
Is there any money in it?
Peace Commissioners offer this service free of charge and, in fact, are not allowed to charge money for it. This is something that comes as a surprise to the general public, commissioners told TheJournal.ie. “It’s kind of nice to be able to give something back to the community,” Browne said.
Where can I find my local Peace Commissioner?
Your local garda station will have a list of Peace Commissioners so that is the best place to go looking. TheJournal.ie did request a full national list but it could not be provided. “It can be difficult to find people,” Brown commented. “Some might not advertise the fact that they’re Peace Commissioners – they may not want the hassle anymore.”
“It probably needs to be made a bit more accessible,” Timmons said. “It is kind of hard to find people.”
“Some people wouldn’t know and might go to a solicitor for the same service but you have to pay them whereas we do it for free. and everyone is strapped for cash at the minute,” he added.
The Appointment Of Peace Commissioners:
*88.—(1) The Minister for Home Affairs may from time to time by warrant under his hand appoint and remove such and so many fit and proper persons as he shall think expedient in each county to be called “Feadhmannaigh Shíochána” or (in English) “Peace Commissioners” and to perform and exercise within such county and (if so expressed in his warrant of appointment) within the counties immediately adjoining such county the duties and powers of Peace Commissioners under this Act.(2) So far as may be practicable having regard to all relevant circumstances, every person appointed to be a Peace Commissioner in a County which includes an area in which the Irish language is in general use shall have a knowledge of the Irish language adequate for the transaction of the business of his office in that language.
(3) A Peace Commissioner shall have all the powers and authorities which immediately before the 6th day of December, 1922, were vested in a Justice of the Peace in respect of the several matters following, that is to say:—
(a) signing summonses;
(b) signing warrants;
(c) administering oaths and taking declarations, affirmations, informations, bonds and recognizances;
(d) committing dangerous lunatics and idiots to lunatic asylums under Section 10 of the Lunacy (Ireland) Act, 1867, and providing for the remuneration of the medical officer and the examiner of lunatics under Section 14 of the Lunatic Asylums (Ireland) Act, 1875;
(e) signing certificates for the admission of lunatics and idiots to lunatic asylums;
(f) signing the certificate required by Section 2 of the Registration of Clubs (Ireland) Act, 1904 ;
(g) condemning and ordering the destruction or disposal of any article intended for the food of man which appears to him to be diseased or unsound or unwholesome or unfit for the food of man under Section 133 of the Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1878 , as amended by Section 28 of the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890 :
Provided always that any summons against any member of the Gárda Síochána shall be signed by a Justice of the District Court.
(4) Whenever any person charged with having committed an indictable offence shall be arrested by a member of the Gárda Síochána such person shall unless a Justice of a District Court is immediately available forthwith be brought before a Peace Commissioner, who after hearing such evidence as may be offered shall remand such person either in custody or in such bail as the Peace Commissioner shall think fit and remit the case for hearing before a Justice of the District Court on a date not later than the next sitting of the District Court to be held in the District where such person was arrested.
*The Roll of Peace Commissioners maintained by The Department of Justice and Law Reform is appointment based, and it is not automatically updated to take account of changes of address, incapacity, retirement or death which occur subsequent to appointment.
In the circumstances, the Roll does not always reflect the actual position on the ground. For that reason, if you need the services of a peace commissioner, you should contact your local Garda station.
The Gardaí use the services of peace commissioners in the course of their duties and should be in a position to supply the name and address of one who is both resident and active in the your locality.
However, the Department will usually provide the name and address of peace commissioners to members of the public, on request.
No comments:
Post a Comment