The Department of Justice and the Office of the Revenue Commissioners established a Joint Review Group to examine the role of sheriffs, as currently constituted, in respect of State work.
The Review Group was independently chaired by Mr Noel Waters, former Secretary General of this Department, and comprised of representatives from the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, The Courts Service, The Departments of Justice, Housing and Finance, as well as an external representative from the Insolvency Service of Ireland.
The Review Group was to examine the future role of Sheriffs, with a view to establishing if the nature of the role is currently in line with best international practice, or if there is a more efficient and cost effective system of debt collection.
The Report of the Sheriff Review Group can be viewed below.
The Review Group met seven times. The minutes of these meetings can be accessed here: Sheriffs Review Group Minutes of Meetings
The Department has held a public consultation on this matter, the details of which are available in the consultations section of the Department’s website. The consultation closed on 24 March 2023 .
The submissions received in response to the consultation can be found here: Submissions received to the public consultation on the role of Sheriffs