Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 27 Apr 1993

Vol. 429 No. 6

Written Answers. - Supreme Court Appeals.

Peter Barry

Question:

103 Mr. Barry asked the Minister for Justice the average delay in bringing appeals from the High Court to the Supreme Court; her views as to whether this is a satisfactory state of affairs; if not, the proposals, if any, she has to shorten the backlog of cases; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Justice (Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn)

I am aware that the workload of the Supreme Court is very heavy and that there are delays in the hearing of certain cases. To ease this workload legislation to establish a new Court of Appeal is currently being drafted in my Department. The Court of Appeal will, in addition to hearing appeals in criminal cases, also hear civil appeals from the High Court and thereby considerably ease the pressure on the Supreme Court.

I am informed that it would be misleading to quote figures for average delays in the hearing of appeals to the Supreme Court, because different types of cases receive different priorities. There are also a number of factors which contribute to delays. In the first instance, while the notice of appeal from the High Court must be lodged within 21 days, this period may be extended by consent or by application to the court. Furthermore appeals cannot be listed until all necessary documentation has been completed by the parties in the case and the length of time this may take varies considerably from a matter of weeks to over a year and rests entirely with the parties.

When the documentation is complete the case is listed for hearing by the Chief Justice who lists cases on a priority basis depending on the particulars of each individual case. I am informed that, for example, priority is always given to cases involving personal liberty, family law, extradition, cases with an inbuilt urgency or cases of general public interest. Priority is also given to certain personal injury cases particularly where the plaintiff is either very young or elderly.

I am also informed that there is also a facility available to parties to apply to the court for a priority hearing which will be granted where the court deems it to be warranted.

At present less urgent cases can take from 18 months to 2 years to be heard while urgent cases can be heard almost immediately.