189.— The Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act 1961 is amended by inserting the following after section 26:

“Functions, powers and jurisdiction of specialist judges of the Circuit Court.

26A.— (1) Notwithstanding any other enactment conferring functions, powers and jurisdiction on a judge of the Circuit Court, a specialist judge of that court may only perform the functions and exercise the powers and jurisdiction that are conferred upon him or her by this section.

(2) The functions, powers and jurisdiction conferred on the Circuit Court by the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 may, subject to this section, be performed and exercised by a specialist judge.

(3) A specialist judge may make any order that may be made by a County Registrar under section 34(1) of, and the Second Schedule to, the Courts and Court Officers Act 1995, subject to the following modifications and any other necessary modifications—

(a) a reference in the Schedule to a County Registrar shall be construed as a reference to a specialist judge,

(b) section 34(2) of the Act shall not apply to such an order, and

(c) the deletion of paragraph 8 of the Schedule.

(4) In performing the functions and exercising the jurisdiction conferred upon him or her by this section, a specialist judge shall have all powers ancillary to those functions or that jurisdiction.

(5) A specialist judge may perform functions and exercise powers and jurisdiction in respect of proceedings to which subsections (2) and (3) apply that are before the Circuit Court only in a relevant circuit.

(6) A specialist judge may, in any place in the State outside a relevant circuit, hear and determine any application which he or she has power to hear and determine within that circuit and which, in his or her opinion, should be dealt with as a matter of urgency.

(7) A specialist judge may adjourn proceedings or any part of proceedings before him or her to any other judge of the Circuit Court within a relevant circuit.

(8) A specialist judge may make out of court any orders which he or she may deem to be urgent.

(9) In this section—

“enactment” means—

(a) an Act of the Oireachtas,

(b) a statute that was in force in Saorstát Éireann immediately before the date of the coming into operation of the Constitution and that continues in force by virtue of Article 50 of the Constitution, or

(c) an instrument made under—

(i) an Act of the Oireachtas, or

(ii) a statute referred to in paragraph (b);

“relevant circuit” means, in relation to a specialist judge, a circuit to which he or she is assigned under section 10(3) of the Courts of Justice Act 1947 or section 2A (inserted by section 193 of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012) of the Courts Act 1977.”.