I thank you, a Chathaoirligh, and Members of the House for facilitating me by adjourning for 15 minutes as I had to attend a conference in Dublin Castle.
In recent years a dramatic increase in the number of cases coming before the courts has placed a very severe strain on the administration of justice in this country. While significant improvements have resulted from the appointment of additional judges, the fact remains that we have reached the stage where the current arrangements for the management of the courts, which have remained largely unaltered over the past 70 years, are not adequate to meet the demands that are being placed upon them. This is a matter that has attracted concern both within and outside the Houses of the Oireachtas.
At a very early stage the Government recognised the need to ensure that parties involved directly with the courts and the general public can secure a quality service from the courts. This was the basis for the undertaking given by the Government in its Action Programme for the Millennium to set up an independent courts service to manage the courts system more efficiently. I am happy to be in a position to bring before the Oireachtas the legislation required to give effect to that undertaking in the action plan.
The purpose of the Bill is to provide for the establishment of an independent body which will be known as the Courts Service and will assume my current functions in relation to the administration of the courts. The policy of the service will be determined by the board of the service and day to day management will be the responsibility of a chief executive who will be appointed by the board. The effect of these arrangements will be to introduce the most comprehensive and radical reform of court administration since the foundation of the State. In order to ensure that the new measures are implemented as quickly as possible provision has also been made for the establishment of a transitional board and the appointment of a chief executive designate with a view to preparing for the full establishment of the service.
Before I proceed to deal in detail with the sections of the Bill I would like to provide a general outline of the background to its proposals. At the end of 1995, my predecessor established the Working Group on a Courts Commission chaired by Mrs. Justice Susan Denham to review the operation and financing of the courts system and, in particular, to consider the matter of the establishment of a commission on the management of the courts as an independent and permanent body with financial and management autonomy. The previous Government agreed to the establishment of a Courts Service as a statutory body to manage a unified courts system as recommended by the working group. The group's third report entitled Towards the Courts Service provided an outline of a legislative scheme to establish a Courts Service and this has served as the framework for the Courts Service (No. 2) Bill.
I should not let the opportunity pass to pay tribute to Mrs. Justice Denham and the members of the working group who have invested and, indeed, continue to invest a very considerable amount of time and energy examining and reporting on the operation of key elements of the courts system. Their valuable work has provided a very firm foundation for the legislative framework for the new Courts Service and I am sure the House will join with me in giving due credit to Mrs. Justice Denham and the working group.
A further development I would like to mention with reference to the measures contained in the Bill concerns the changes which are taking place within the framework of my Department. As the Members of this House will be aware, there is a significant ongoing programme of organisational change in the Justice area. Leaving aside my functions in relation to the Garda Síochána, which were dealt with in the Garda SMI document published recently, my responsibility for the administration of justice is discharged in the context of the relationship between my Department and the courts and the Prison Service. Under the Strategic Management Initiative in my Department, the role of the Department is shifting away decisively from the day-to-day provision of support services for the courts and the administration of prisons. The Bill underpins this development in the courts area by transferring the function of managing the courts to the Courts Service, and I can inform the House that a prisons service Bill is being prepared to establish a prisons board on a statutory basis.
A key element in the development of the new services in the Justice area will be the retention by the Minister of political responsibility and accountability to the Oireachtas for the discharge by the new bodies of their functions. Crucial to the success of the new bodies, too, will be their structuring to take full responsibility for the management of their respective services, including the achievement of agreed objectives, service levels and financial performance. This approach to political accountability and management responsibility is reflected in the provisions of the Courts Service (No. 2) Bill.
I turn now to the main provisions of the Bill. Section 4 is the pivotal provision of the Bill as it brings the Courts Service into existence on the establishment day. That day will be appointed by order of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform under section 3. However, section 1 and Part VIII provide for the establishment of the Courts Service Transitional Board. As the text stands at present, this will happen immediately on the enactment of the Bill but, for operational reasons, I am considering whether it would be more appropriate that a short period, perhaps a month, should be allowed after enactment for the establishment of the transitional board.
Section 11 establishes the board of the Courts Service and provides for its membership in accordance with the recommendations of the working group on a courts commission. The board will have 17 members and will be widely representative, which is appropriate and, indeed, necessary in a body which will be located at the top of the Courts Service structure and will have responsibility for formulating the policy of the service. It is only right that the judiciary, staff of the service, practitioners and users of the courts, who have a very real interest in the future of the courts system, should be represented at the decision-making level.
The Chief Justice and the Presidents of the High, Circuit and District Courts will be members of the board or will nominate another judge for that purpose. An ordinary judge of each of those courts will also be elected to the board by his or her judicial colleagues. A further judge will be nominated by the Chief Justice in respect of his or her expertise in a specific area. The other members of the board will be the chief executive, a practising barrister nominated by the Chairman of the Bar Council, a practising solicitor nominated by the President of the Law Society, a member of the staff of the Courts Service, an officer of the Minister, a person nominated by the Minister to represent consumers of the services provided by the courts, a person nominated by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and a person nominated by the Minister with knowledge and experience of commerce, finance or administration after consultation with bodies representative of such interests.
The Chief Justice or his or her nominated replacement will chair the board. Elected or nominated members will serve for a term of three years, which will be renewable on re-election or renomination under section 12. The Minister will be entitled to remove, for stated reasons, a member of the board nominated by the Minister. To remove, for stated reasons, members nominated by the President of the Law Society, the Chairman of the Bar Council or the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the Minister must first consult with the nominating person or body concerned.
Under section 14, the board must meet at least once every three months and that section provides in a standard form for the procedures of the board. Finally, as regards the workings of the board, section 15 empowers it to establish committees which may comprise persons who are not members of the board but who have expertise relevant to the work of a committee. This flexibility would allow the board, for example, to examine in a very specialised way particular aspects of court operations.
As I have already mentioned, the essential purpose of the Bill is to transfer the current functions of the Minister which relate to the courts to the Courts Service. This is reflected in section 5 which draws out the broad parameters of the service's functions. Apart from the general mandate to manage the courts, the section provides that the service shall provide services for the judges, information and facilities to the public, and courtroom accommodation. I take this opportunity to highlight the service's function of providing facilities for those who use the courts. I am aware that courthouse facilities and conditions are of vital concern to members of the public, including victims of crime. Considerable improvements have been made in this area but it is essential that the process of the modernisation of courthouses be kept up to pace. I am confident that the service will be fully aware of the need to target resources towards the provision of modern accommodation to meet the requirements of all court users.
Section 29 is also relevant in this area. That section, which is essentially an adaptation provision, taken in conjunction with Schedule 2 to which it relates, provides a list of the many statutory provisions where functions will be devolved on the service with effect from the establishment day. The section provides that the schedule can be augmented by way of an order made by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The section also provides that any other statutory function relevant to the work of the service may be conferred on the service by a Government order.
Section 6 confers powers generally on the service to enable it to perform its functions under the Act and certain powers are specifically mentioned, including the power to hold land and to enter into contracts and arrangements. Essentially what we are talking about is to ensure that the new service will have the capacity to carry out its functions as effectively and efficiently as possible, and I am satisfied that aspect is properly covered in the Bill.
While the provisions to which I have just referred map out the overall remit of the service, sections 13 and 20, dealing respectively with the board's functions and those of the chief executive, cover a key relationship within the overall framework of management of the Courts Service. Under section 13, the board will be responsible for the policy of the service and for overseeing the implementation by the chief executive of the board's policy. By virtue of section 20, the chief executive's function will primarily be to manage and control on a day-to-day basis the business, administration and staff of the service. Section 20(2) makes it clear that the chief executive will be accountable to the board in the implementation by him or her of the board's policies and the performance generally of his or her functions, including all functions conferred on him or her under the Bill or by the board.
One of my priorities in bringing forward this measure has been to ensure that the statutory framework for the Courts Service establishes clear lines of accountability and responsibility. Under the Bill full responsibility for the management of the courts system will be conferred on the Courts Service while political accountability for the activities of the service will continue to rest with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
Under section 8 the service will be required to submit an annual report to the Minister of its activities and the Minister will lay that report before each House of the Oireachtas. The section allows the Minister to direct that additional information be included in the annual report. It also imposes a general requirement on the service, acting through the chief executive, to provide information to the Minister about the policy and activities of the service. It is essential that the Minister and Government of the day as well as the Oireachtas has a clear insight into the way the service is operating.
Notice taken that 12 Members were not present; House counted and 12 Members being present,