Martin Kenny
Question:124. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Justice if she plans to appoint additional judges with a view to clearing the current backlog of cases before the Courts Service. [16217/22]
View answerTuesday, 29 March 2022
Questions (124)
Written answers
The Courts Service continues to work closely with the Judiciary on a range of measures to help address backlogs within the system as a consequence of the pandemic.
Ensuring the courts and judiciary are adequately resourced is a Government priority. It is also the case that the Government endeavours to fill judicial vacancies at the earliest opportunity to ensure our courts continue to operate as effectively and efficiently as possible. Some positions are due to be filled shortly following some recent retirements.
Additional resources have been provided for the High Court, where the number of judges was increased by five last year, from 37 to 42, with the enactment of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021.
In addition, section 8 of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021 provided for the number of High Court judges to be exceeded by a further one should the Government, at my request, having consulted with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, form the opinion that it was necessary due to the volume of business and to ensure the efficient administration of justice. I brought a Memorandum to Government on 19 January 2022, with a recommendation to have that additional High Court post filled.
With that recent appointment to the High Court, the complement of High Court judges is now six more than it was on 1 October 2021. This represents one of the largest increases in judges in recent memory and a very significant investment by the State in judicial resources.
Any further judicial resourcing needs will be informed by the report and recommendations of the Judicial Planning Working Group, which was established in April, 2021 in line with commitments in the Programme for Government and my Justice Plan 2021 to “Establish a working group to consider the number of and type of judges required to ensure the efficient administration of justice over the next five years”.
To help inform the work of the Group, the OECD have been commissioned to prepare an independent review of judicial resource needs, including benchmarks against international comparators. The latest indications from the OECD are that they hope to present their initial draft report to my Department in the coming weeks with the final report to be published later this year.