Vol. 512 No. 3
287 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of cases before the Central Criminal Court; the number of judges sitting in the court; the average time from the sending forward of a case from the District Court to actual hearing of the trial at the Central Criminal Court; and the number of murder cases before the court. [26241/99]
I am informed by the Courts Service that there are currently 205 cases before the Central Criminal Court, of which 45 are murder cases. Three judges are sitting in the Central Criminal Court during the current law term.
The average lapse of time between the return for trial in the District Court and the trial date is not readily available. However, at the moment, new cases coming into the list to fix dates for hearing would be given a date after 5 February 2001.
