(1) Notwithstanding section 27(3) of the Courts of Justice Act, 1953, the court before which a person first appears charged with a particular offence or a judge of the District Court exercising jurisdiction under subsection (2) of section 79 of the Act of 1924 (inserted by section 41 of the Courts and Court Officers Act, 1995) may remand that person in custody to appear at a sitting of the District Court ("alternative court") in the District Court District in which the prison or place of detention where he or she is to be held in custody is situated or a District Court District adjoining the first-mentioned District Court District.

(2) The alternative court may, from time to time, as occasion requires, further remand a person, referred to in subsection (1) of the said section 79, in custody or on bail, to that court or to another alternative court.

(3) An alternative court shall, for the purposes of the trial of a person, remand the person to a sitting of the court in the District Court District -

(a) in which the offence to which the trial relates was committed, or

(b) in which the person resides or was arrested.

(4) The said section 79 is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3):

"(3) A judge of the District Court exercising jurisdiction under subsection (2) shall not have jurisdiction to -

(a) conduct a preliminary examination under the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1967, or