When I became Minister for Justice I was acutely aware of the need for reform of our courts system. A full reappraisal of where the courts stood and where the system was going was long overdue. A fresh approach was badly needed. A vastly increased volume of civil actions, family law business and criminal cases over a number of years meant that the entire courts system was under considerable strain. The most serious and immediate problem was, of course, the delays in the hearing of actions and appeals at all levels of the courts system. This adversely affected litigants, victims of crime, the business sector and the community as a whole.
The first major step I took to turn around this unsatisfactory state of affairs was to introduce and secure the enactment of the Courts and Court Officers Act, 1995. That Act provided for a total increase of 18 in the statutory maximum limit of judges — three in the Supreme Court, three in the High Court, seven in the Circuit Court and five in the District Court. All but three of those extra judges have been appointed. The 1995 Act contained other innovative reforms that improved the position considerably — for example, by enabling the Supreme Court to sit in two divisions which could hear appeals simultaneously and by giving the Master of the High Court and county registrars the power to deal with business that previously only judges could handle.
Last summer I brought forward the Courts Bill, 1996, to increase the maximum statutory limit on the number of judges of the Circuit Court by a further three to 28 judges, including the President of the Circuit Court. The Courts Act, 1996, and the 1995 Act have provided for an additional ten Circuit Court judges, that is, an increase of more than 50 per cent in the number of judges of that court. Developments in the family law area and changes to the limits of the jurisdiction of the courts in 1991 had a major impact on the volume and complexity of business coming before the courts system as a whole but this affected the Circuit Court in particular.
The implementation of divorce legislation is likely to impact further on the volume of business, particularly in the Circuit Court. It is not yet possible to assess its long-term requirements for judicial and staffing resources but in the short term it is expected that there will be a considerable number of applications to the courts. My Department is currently in touch with the Department of Finance regarding the provision of additional staff in this regard. If a continuing upward trend becomes apparent, I assure the House that the Government will examine the need for additional judges and staff in that specific context.
The appointment of additional judges has enabled the President of the High Court to arrange additional sittings of the Central Criminal Court and the President of the Circuit Court to arrange additional sittings of the Circuit Court around the country, particularly in areas where delays are most acute. Alongside my legislative programme, this development has had a significant effect on the arrears of cases before those courts. My strategy has been to combine the allocation of additional judicial resources with practical legislative and administrative reforms to quickly equip the courts system with the means to make inroads on delays in hearing cases and appeals.
This strategy has produced excellent results. The existing backlogs in the courts are well on the way to being cleared. For example, in the Dublin Circuit Court I understand that new litigants in civil cases can now obtain a court date within six weeks of the lodgment of their case. This compares to a delay of two years last July. In family law cases in the Dublin Circuit Court the delay has been reduced from 16 months to four months and there are now no delays in the hearing of criminal cases in the Dublin Circuit Court. I hope Members will recognise that a serious attempt is being made to reduce the delays and that the strategy the Government and I adopted has produced excellent results.
Delays in the hearing of personal injury actions in the High Court have been reduced from 35 months to 20 months and delays in the hearing of cases in the Central Criminal Court have been reduced to as low as six months in some cases. There have been similar substantial reductions in delays in the hearing of cases in the provincial Circuit Court. For example, delays in the hearing of civil cases in Galway have been reduced from two years to as low as three months and delays in the hearing of family law cases, involving a great deal of trauma, which were up to six months have been eliminated. The vast majority of provincial Circuit Court venues have experienced this pattern of reductions in the level of delays in the hearing of cases.
A major step has been taken to reform the courts system with the establishment of the working group on a courts commission which I set up at the end of 1995, chaired by Mrs. Justice Susan Denham, to review the operation and financing of the courts system with particular regard to the quality of service provided to the public. I also asked the group to consider the matter of the establishment of a commission on the management of the courts as an independent and permanent body with financial and management autonomy in line with the commitment to that effect in the Government of Renewal programme.
Last November, the Government approved the recommendation contained in the working group's third report, Towards the Courts Service, to the effect that steps be taken as a matter of urgency to legislate for a courts service as an independent and permanent body and accorded priority to the drafting of this Bill. The legislation which is required to enable the new courts service to be established is being dealt with as a priority in my Department and this measure will be published as soon as possible.
The working group is continuing its work on the review of the day to day operation of the courts system and it will submit further reports to me as appropriate. This is valuable work and I take this opportunity to again thank Mrs. Justice Denham and the other members of the working group for the very important work they have undertaken in this area. This strategy for the longer term development of the courts system is, in my view, crucial. Too many sticking plasters were put on other areas of the courts and prison system in the past and these fundamental and long-term changes need to be made to the courts system. The reason the working group has been so successful is that all those involved, including the members of the group, the staff associations and the staff who sent submissions and met the group, have been positive about the concept of a new courts service.
Another major area of concern which I am actively addressing is the standard of court accommodation. A major courts building programme has been drawn up and a number of works are under way throughout the country. I am aware that, despite work carried out in recent years, the standard of much court accommodation throughout the country is seriously inadequate and is failing to provide the facilities necessary for persons using the courts. Therefore, I have obtained £7.5 million from the Government this year to carry out capital projects and a further £1.6 million for maintenance projects. This is the highest amount to be allocated in one year since financial responsibility for courthouses was transferred to the Exchequer in March 1990 and is an indication of the Government's commitment to provide modern court accommodation which is necessary for the effective discharge of court business. During the next month or so new courthouses will be provided at the former River-bank Theatre and the former Richmond Hospital in Dublin, at Carrick-on-Shannon and at Naas. Work on the building of a new courthouse in Tallaght has just commenced and major projects in Ennis, Listowel, Longford, Trim and Cork city will also get under way this year.
Turning to the Bill, Senators will be aware of recent Government decisions to appoint two judges of the High Court, Ms Justice Mella Carroll to the Nursing Commission and Mr. Justice Brian McCracken to the Dunnes tribunal. These developments will naturally have implications for the existing judicial resources in the High Court and that is the background to this Bill. I would be most concerned if the progress that has already been made in reducing delays in hearing criminal and civil cases before the High Court was adversely affected by the appointment, albeit temporary, to other duties of the two judges I mentioned.
The purpose of the Bill is to increase the statutory limit on the number of judges of the High Court, not including the President of the High Court, from 19, as set by the Courts and Court Officers Act, 1995, to 22. This will be raised to 23 where one of the judges of the High Court is appointed to the position of commissioner in the Law Reform Commission, which is a standard provision. It is my intention that one new judge should be appointed to the High Court when the Bill has been enacted.
The Bill takes account, therefore, of the need for possible future increases that may be required in the number of High Court judges. I believe that approach makes better sense than legislating to increase the complement of judges on an ad hoc basis on each occasion that an additional judge might be required. Urgent circumstances could arise in the future which would require the appointment of an additional High Court judge. This Bill means that it will be possible to respond to such a need without having to bring forward another Courts Bill.
We had not anticipated that two High Court judges would be working for the State in connection with the nursing commission or the Dunnes tribunal. The legislation provides that the Government of the day may, if necessary, appoint two additional judges to the High Court.
As Minister for Justice, my key priorities are tackling immediate problems and implementing a longer term development strategy for the courts. The reforms I have already put in place and ongoing reforms will ensure for the future that the courts will have the capacity to respond effectively to the demands placed on them. This commitment of resources and longer term planning is vital for the operation of an efficient system of justice. That is a standard the public is entitled to expect and which I am confident my reforms will deliver.
The Bill is an important measure that will enable the very significant progress that has been achieved in the operation of our courts system to be maintained and developed further and I commend it to the House.