Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 10 Mar 1999

Vol. 502 No. 1

Written Answers. - Court Cases.

Ivor Callely

Question:

171 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the backlogs and delays, if any, in the hearing of court cases and appeals; the measures, if any, being considered to improve the situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7341/99]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

The majority of cases currently coming before the various courts can proceed to hearing within a reasonably short time. However, there are some delays in a small number of areas which are indicated in the following table.

Court	Venue	Type of Case	Lengthof Delay
Circuit Court	Dublin	Video Link Trials	5-7 Months
	Cork	Civil Cases	6-12 Months
		Criminal Cases	6 Months
		Family Law Cases	3-6 Months
	Limerick	Civil Cases	8 Months
		Family Law Cases	3-6 Months
	Dundalk	Civil Cases	6 Months
Central Criminal Court	Dublin	Murder Trials	14 Months
		Rape Trials	11 Months

Regarding delays in video link trials a second set of video link equipment was installed in the Four Courts in Dublin in November 1998 to cater for the increase in the volume of cases requiring these facilities. It is expected that the operation of this second system will reduce the waiting time for hearing video link trials in the Circuit Court and also those rape cases in the Central Criminal Court which require the use of video link. Also, consideration is being given to the installation of video link facilities at venues outside Dublin to reduce the number of video link trials being transferred to Dublin.

Under the Courts and Court Officers Act, 1995, a third permanent judge was assigned to the Circuit Court in Cork. That Act also provided for the appointment of seven additional circuit court judges who were appointed in 1996. Since then the President of the Circuit Court has been tem porarily assigning judges to all venues to try to reduce arrears and eliminate unreasonable delays. These measures have resulted in the elimination of delays in all but three venue i.e. Cork, Limerick and Dundalk. In those three venues the delays in hearing civil cases had been three years in Cork, in excess of two years in Limerick and two years in Dundalk. As the above table indicates, these delays have been greatly reduced and it is expected that this trend will continue until the delays at these venues are eliminated.

In 1995 there was a 40 per cent increase over 1994 in the volume of cases coming before the Central Criminal Court. Prior to the enactment of the Courts and Court Officers Act, 1995, there were two judges hearing cases in the Central Criminal Court. This Act provided for the appointment of three additional High Court judges who were appointed in 1996. This enabled the President of the High Court to make a third judge available to hear cases in the Central Criminal Court. Following a further increase of 23 per cent in 1997 over 1995 in the volume of cases coming before this court a further additional High Court judge was appointed in December 1998 which has enabled the President of the High Court to make a fourth judge available to hear cases in the Central Criminal Court. It is expected that these measures will help to reduce the delay periods in that court.