Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 November 2013
307. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the entitlements a citizen has to access all court records and papers relating to a case to which he or she was a party a number of decades ago; the way he or she may access that information; and his plans to improve this access. [47807/13]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service which is independent in exercising its functions.
In order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the Courts Service has informed me that court records in the sense of documents filed or issued through the court office and retained on the court file pertaining to that case may be viewed by the parties to the case and their legal representatives. Depending on the date on which a court case was concluded, the court file relating to the case may have been transferred to the National Archive, in which case persons wishing to view the file do so through the National Archive as court offices no longer have custody of those files.
In addition, court records in the sense of documents produced to the court at the hearing, such as medical reports, legal submissions, any audio recordings of the court proceedings and any transcripts of court proceedings are not retained on the case file in the court office. In accordance with Section 65(3) of the Court Officers Act 1926, these records are held by the Courts Service under the control of the presiding Judge . Access to such records is a matter for the presiding Judge who is under the Constitution independent in the exercise of his/her judicial functions.
