Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 15 Nov 2000

Vol. 526 No. 1

Written Answers. - Courts Service.

Eamon Gilmore

Ceist:

121 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he has satisfied himself that the Courts Service has sufficient resources at its disposal in view of the huge backlog of murder and rape cases awaiting hearing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25753/00]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

The management of the courts, as the Deputy will be aware, is a matter for the Courts Service. Notwithstanding this, the waiting periods in cases of murder and rape before the Central Criminal Court are a matter of concern and I have taken action, within my area of responsibility as Minister, to address the problem. I obtained Government approval for the appointment of an additional High Court Judge who took up duty in February of this year. I also ensured that all the vacancies on the High Court bench which arose in the course of this year were filled. These actions ensured that the court had the maximum statutory number of judges available.

I have also secured Government approval for the drafting of legislation to further increase by one the number of High Court judges. This will enable the President of the High Court, who is, of course, responsible for the listing and allocation of cases, to address the problem of delays, to the extent that they may be attributable to the shortage of judges.

While delays in hearing cases can arise for a number of reasons, some of which are outside the control of the court, there is no doubt that the significant increase in the number of cases being returned to the Central Criminal Court is contributing to the delays in the hearing of cases, which are approximately 12 months on average. I am informed by the Courts Service that because of the nature of the cases coming before the Cen tral Criminal Court, it is difficult when listing cases to assess the duration of cases. It is not unusual for trials to take longer than anticipated which means other scheduled cases can not take place and may have to be put back to a later date for hearing.

In order to deal with the increase in the number of cases coming before the Central Criminal Court, the number of Central Criminal Courts has been increased to four. This has resulted in a significant increase in the number of cases disposed of by the Central Criminal Court. In the legal year ending 31 July 1997, a total of 82 cases were dealt with by the Central Criminal Court. In the legal year ending 31 July 2000, this figure had increased to 133, an increase of 62%. Despite this, the number of cases being dealt with by the Central Criminal Court is not keeping up with the increase in the number of new cases coming before the court.

Any further increase in the number of judges sitting in the Central Criminal Court is, as I have said, a matter for the president of the High Court.

Question No. 122 taken with Question No. 105.