Vol. 437 No. 6
262 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice the result of her review of activity levels in the High Court and Circuit Court; and whether this review will lead to the appointment of additional judges and the provision of additional facilities, including computers and research assistance to the courts.
The review of activity levels in the High and Circuit Courts to assess the impact of the altered jurisdiction of the Courts under the Courts Act, 1991 has been completed in my Department. The results of this review are under examination at present and until that examination is complete it is not possible for me to be specific on what additional resources might be made available to the Courts or what form these resources might take.
With regard to the computerisation of the Courts, I am already committed to using the resources available to me to bring about the expansion of computerisation of the Court service as quickly as possible. In the past few years considerable progress has been made in the computerisation of the various court offices and the extension of computerisation in the Courts will continue to be carried out in 1994 with the purchase of new equipment and software and the replacement of outdated equipment and systems. The staff of all but one Circuit Court Office avail of personal computer facilities and 50 per cent of District Court Offices will have facilities by the end of March. A major computer training programme for courts personnel was completed in 1993, which will ensure that computer systems installed in court offices are used to their full potential.
