Judicial Appointments

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 April 2014

Wednesday, 30 April 2014

Questions (586)

Michael McGrath

Question:

586. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of specialist judges currently assigned to deal with cases arising from the Insolvency Service of Ireland; the number of cases that have been presided over to date by these insolvency judges; if any additional duties have been assigned to them in view of the low number of cases dealt with so far by the Insolvency Service of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19337/14]

Written answers

Minister for Justice and Equality

Six Specialist Judges of the Circuit Court were appointed on 15 July 2013 in accordance with Part Six of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 which provided for the amendment of the Courts Acts to create a cadre of Specialist Judges of the Circuit Court to facilitate the speedy consideration of insolvency applications by that Court. It is my intention that these new judges will also be given jurisdiction to deal with applications to the Circuit Court under the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill 2013. As the Deputy may be aware, the scheduling of court cases and the allocation of court business is a matter for the President of the Circuit Court who is, under the Constitution, independent in the exercise of his judicial functions. However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the Courts Service has informed me that in the period up to 25 April 2014 a total of 164 cases have been dealt with under the Personal Insolvency Act 2012.