Contact with law reform bodies worldwide will be a key future component of the Irish Law Reform Commission's projects, its president has stated in a report of its work last year.
The former Supreme Court judge Mr Anthony J. Hederman, who has now retired as president, said in the 19th report (1997) of the commission that contact with these other organisations would be a part of its work, both in improving its research and in broadening the impact of its publications.
He said the commission focuses not only on domestic law but on European law, private international law and public international law and it must have the necessary expertise.
Mr Hederman, in his foreword, writes that the idea behind the commission since its foundation in 1975 has been the provision of advice by an independent body of experts on revision and refinement of the law so that the law may better achieve justice.
The report gives details of the legislative action taken in 1997 in areas covered by commission reports. These included the Bail Act 1997, which, it states, followed the publication of its Examination of the Law of Bail (1995), and the referendum to amend the Constitution.
The Children Act 1997 largely implemented provisions in the commission's Report on Family Courts, which proposed that the child should be granted independent representation in cases where he or she was not a party to the case but where his or her interests were at stake.
The report also says that many of its recommendations were implemented in the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1997, and the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997.
In 1997, the Dail Select Committee on Social Affairs produced a report on Non-Fatal Offences against the Person in Respect of Children, which also reiterated many of the commission's recommendations, says the report.
The commission received its first evaluation in 1997. A report on the organisation and management recommended changes to the structure and resources of the organisation and its overall position within the democratic process.