Mr. Thomas Harte was found dead with head injuries in a derelict house at Leitrim Street, Cork city, on 20 May 1997. Gardaí later arrested and charged two men with the murder of Mr. Harte. Mr. Harte's family have been told that because of a backlog of cases at the Central Criminal Court due to a shortage of judges, it will be well into next year before the trial will start.
The family are angry at the delay, saying it is an insult to their dead brother's memory. A family member said: "We are very angry about it. It is as if Thomas's death somehow is not important enough to them. It is obscene. The whole system seems to forget about the family as if it is nothing to them, but it is hugely important to us."
The delay is causing great distress also to the murdered man's mother with whom Thomas lived. The family had prepared themselves for the trial which was due to start last month. They had arranged leave from work to attend the trial, but at short notice the trial was postponed.
This is just another example of the way the public is being treated by the system. Only last weekend we saw High Court cases in Cork and other centres throughout the country cancelled because judges decided to hold a meeting in Dublin on Monday to discuss the implications of the Sheedy case. Other representative organisations would have held their meeting on Saturday or Sunday and would have gone back to work on Monday but not those who made this decision.
Instead the public who had waited lengthy periods for their cases to be listed saw their preparations put to one side because of an arrogant, thoughtless decision by members of the Judiciary. No consideration was given to how that decision would affect the public.
I ask the Minister to appoint a further judge to the Central Criminal Court in order to deal with the dilemma in which the Harte family finds itself. If he indicated tonight that he was addressing this issue, it would relieve much of the distress of the family who asked me to raise this matter. In addition, the Minister must take an active interest to protect the public by bringing about a more efficient judicial system. I know he will give a positive response.