Séamus Cullimore
Question:81 Mr. Cullimore asked the Minister for Justice if, in view of the very serious situation with the backlog of cases in upper and lower courts he has any immediate plans to rectify this.
Written Answers. - Backlog of Court Cases.
Assuming that the reference in the question to upper and lower courts is to be taken as encompassing the High, Circuit and District Courts, the implication seems to be that in all of these courts there is a serious situation with a backlog of cases awaiting hearing. That is not in fact the position. The reality is that, in general, the courts are operating effectively and that in the vast majority of cases there are no undue delays. As an extremely wide range of issues and cases come before the Courts every day, it must, of course, be recognised that it is inevitable that delays may arise from time to time.
If delays arise in any court venue or in relation to any particular category of court business, every effort is made to address the problem by the holding of additional court sittings.
As regards the District Court I am aware that there have been delays in the criminal and civil business of the Dublin Metropolitan District Court. In order to deal with the backlog of cases the President of the District Court has arranged additional Court sittings which it is expected will reduce the volume of arrears substantially.
There are some delays in bringing civil cases to trial in both the Circuit and High Court in Dublin and Cork. However, it must be pointed out that delays in hearing civil actions are not all related to court sittings, and that some of the reasons for delay are attributable to the litigants themselves. Among the measures taken to eliminate delays in the High Court was the appointment of two new High Court judges in October of last year. In the last twelve months there has been a substantial reduction in the backlog of cases for hearing in the High Court in Cork. In Dublin two new courtrooms will be made available to the High Court and one new courtroom will be made available to the Circuit Court within the next few weeks which, it is expected, will greatly assist in alleviating delays in the future.