Commentary on Sections Part 14 : General Section 334:Provisions for Northern Ireland
738.Subsections (1)to (3) of this section provide that an Order in Council under section 85 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (c. 47) (or during direct rule, paragraph 1 of the Schedule to the Northern Ireland Act 2000 (c. 1)), is to be subject to the negative resolution rather than the affirmative resolution procedure if it contains a statement that it is made only for purposes corresponding to those in Part 1, sections 1, 3(3), 4, 7 to 10 and 12 (amendments of Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984), paragraphs 1, 2, 5 to 10 and 20 of Schedule 1 (amendments related to Part 1), Part 8 (live links), Part 9 (prosecution appeals) and Part 11 (evidence).
739.Section 41(2) of the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002 (c. 26) provides that once a local Attorney General for Northern Ireland has been appointed under section 22(2) of that Act the functions of the Attorney General for Northern Ireland to consent to prosecutions shall transfer to the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland (subject to certain exceptions in Schedule 7 of that Act). Subsection (4) ensures that any function of the Attorney General for Northern Ireland of consenting to the institution of criminal proceedings conferred by an amendment made by the Act will be included in the transfer of functions provided for in section 41(2).
740.Subsection (5) provides that any reference in the Access to Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 (S.I. 2003/435 (N.I. 10)) to any provision in the Criminal Appeal (Northern Ireland) Act 1980 (c. 47) is to be read as a reference to the provision, as amended by the Act.