The Government is to consider a plan to streamline the State's prosecution service by making the Director of Public Prosecutions responsible for how criminal prosecutions are conducted in court.
Under the present system the DPP decides whether to prosecute but the criminal case is run by lawyers from Chief State Solicitor's Office. A new report, to be brought before Cabinet shortly, recommends transferring the criminal division staff from the Chief State Solicitor's Office to the DPP.
The report, by the Public Prosecution System Study Group, says the DPP, rather than the Attorney General, should be responsible for State solicitors.
If approved the measures will bring the main State prosecution services under one agency. Gardai will continue to have the power to prosecute minor offences.
The new DPP, Mr James Hamilton, takes over tomorrow from the outgoing DPP, Mr Eamon Barnes, who retires today after 25 years in the post.
Mr Hamilton was a member of the study group which drew up the report. The group, chaired by the former cabinet secretary, Mr Dermot Nally, was asked to review the legal and organisational arrangements for the public prosecution system following a recommendation in the Report of the Review Group on the Law Offices of the State, published in February 1998.
The report proposes an improvement in Garda training in relation to prosecutions and urges the speeding up of the introduction of the recording of Garda interviews of suspects.
It also recommends extending the range of on-the-spot fines by gardai for offences to reduce the pressure on the prosecution system and the courts.
The report says the proposed transfer of the criminal division of the Chief State Solicitor's Office to the DPP, and giving responsibility for State solicitors to the DPP, should be subject to adequate staffing and only following detailed consultation.
The publication of an annual report by the DPP is also recommended. The first DPP report was published this year.
The study considered whether aspects of other comparable jurisdictions could be adapted to the advantage of the Irish public prosecution system. However, it did not go as far as proposing changing to a unified system like the Crown Prosecution Service.
The group worked under the auspices of the Office of the Attorney General.
Apart from Mr Hamilton, outgoing director-general at the Attorney General's Office, those assisting in the study were Mr Michael Buckley, Chief State Solicitor; Mr Simon O'Leary, deputy director at the DPP's office; deputy Garda commissioner Mr Noel Conroy; and Ms Frances Cooke, a revenue solicitor.
Other members of the group were Mr Justice Kevin Haugh; Mr Denis McCullough SC; Dr Finbarr McAuley, UCD; Mr Peter Charleton SC; Mr Peter Jones, president of the State Solicitors' Association; Mr Patrick Howard, principal officer at the Department of Finance; and Mr James Martin, principal officer at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.