Irish courts would be given significantly increased powers to issue maintenance orders covering the entire European Union under a new EU proposal.
The EU document is currently being considered by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, which must decide by the end of April if the State will become involved in negotiations.
The proposal would "eliminate all obstacles which still today prevent the recovery of maintenance within the European Union", the Department of Justice has told the Oireachtas EU scrutiny committee, chaired by Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen, which vets proposed EU legislation.
Courts would be given powers to order the freezing of bank accounts of spouses, or of ex-spouses living in other EU states, who have failed to pay their maintenance bills.
The legislation, which requires the unanimous agreement of member-states, could come into force on January 1st 2008 if negotiations among EU ministers are completed in time.
The Irish Central Authority for the Recovery of Maintenance last year dealt with 28 requests from other EU states seeking to have foreign maintenance orders enforced in Ireland.
In turn, the Irish body sent out 53 requests to other authorities to have Irish maintenance orders enforced in other jurisdictions. These were requests both to and from EU member-states and other third countries.
No statistical data is available on the number of EU nationals living in Ireland who would be covered by the new regulation, the Department of Justice said last night.
Under the proposal, which Ireland can stay out of completely if it so chooses, the spouse or ex-spouse required to pay maintenance would have 20 days to challenge a court order.
A court decision in one member-state "shall be recognised and enforceable" in another member-state "without any possibility of opposing its recognition".
The European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee have already considered the proposal.
An EU-wide investigation found that the public had a "lack of awareness" about existing court rules in member-states, while "all manner of difficulties" existed for those seeking the enforcement of maintenance orders.
The proposal is now to be debated by the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, following the EU scrutiny committee's recommendation.
"It seeks to enable a creditor to obtain easily, quickly and generally free of charge an enforcement order capable of circulation without obstacles," the Department of Justice told the EU scrutiny committee.
Under the Treaty of Amsterdam, Ireland, Denmark and the United Kingdom all have three months after a measure has been presented to the European Council of Ministers before they must state whether they want to participate in the adoption and application of such a measure, while the prior approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas is also necessary.
