Mr. Brendan Ryan:

I thank the Chairman for the invitation to appear before the committee in my capacity as Accounting Officer for the Courts Service, Vote 22. I look forward to discussing any aspect of the Vote with the Chairman and members of the committee.

I am pleased to report that a clean audit report has been provided by the Comptroller and Auditor General on the 2013 appropriations account. Overall, the Vote was managed successfully and within budget at year end. A surrender balance of €515,170 was recorded in the Vote.

The Courts Service is responsible for the management and administration of the courts. The administration of justice is a matter for the Judiciary and, in accordance with the constitutional independence of the Judiciary and the provisions of the Courts Service Act, is outside the scope of the functions of the Courts Service. The committee will appreciate, therefore, that in my discussions today I am precluded from commenting on any matter relating to the exercise by a judge of his or her judicial functions or the exercise of quasi-judicial functions by an officer of the court. I am also precluded from commenting on matters of Government policy.

Since its establishment, the Courts Service has worked to ensure the courts operate effectively and efficiently, that the use of available resources is optimised, that value for money is achieved and that the best possible service is provided for court users. Since the Vote was last considered by the committee in 2010, the Courts Service has seen very severe reductions in funding and staff numbers. In this regard, the service has worked tirelessly to introduce a broad range of changes and reforms to bring about savings for the Exchequer, while maintaining access to justice and services for the public. The service has diligently cut expenditure and, through proactive management, increased court fees, resulting in a significant contribution to the Government's recovery programme. The net cost to the Exchequer of operating the service has reduced by €41 million, or 41%, since 2008 - from €99 million to €58 million - as provided in the Estimates for 2014. During this period day-to-day running costs as represented by non-pay current expenditure decreased by €19.3 million, or 44%, with an 18% reduction in pay and a 73% reduction in capital expenditure. Court fee income in 2008 was €39 million, whereas the fee income target for 2014 is €46.5 million, an increase of 19%. The fee income for 2014 is forecasted to exceed this target.

The Courts Service fully accepts and supports the Government’s ongoing requirement for savings to be achieved and reforms introduced in the delivery of public services. In this regard, the service has in place robust financial control measures across the organisation to ensure expenditure is kept to an absolute minimum, incurred only where absolutely necessary and unavoidable and that value for money is achieved. In the past six years the service has been to the fore in the introduction of a range of transformational changes which have delivered very significant savings. Given the severity of the funding and staffing reductions in the service which saw a 16% reduction in staff numbers - double the Civil Service average and significantly greater than the public service average of 10% - it would not have been possible to maintain services without introducing a range of efficiency and productivity measures across all aspects of Courts Service structures, administration and operation, while maintaining access to justice.

The modernisation programme has included significant structural and administrative reforms, with the completion of the combined office project, and the rationalisation of stand-alone offices and the regional management structure. We have also carried out a review and rationalisation of court venues and the hearing of cases in larger venues has freed up judicial and staff time. We have also worked to introduce a substantial programme of legislative and process reforms to enable improved operation of the courts and efficiency in deployment of court resources. The implementation of our ICT programme has resulted in the optimisation of courtroom and court support technology, including the roll out of digital audio recording, DAR, to all court jurisdictions and venues; extended use of video link and video conferencing, which has resulted in significant cross-justice sector efficiencies; the development of case management systems for the debt claims on-line project, the new insolvency service, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court; and ICT support for the new fines legislation. There has also been increased staff flexibility in a number of areas such as DAR logging by court registrars, as well as increased in-house ICT and legal support, all of which have yielded significant savings.

The increased productivity arising from these measures has enabled the service to support a 7% increase in the number of judges, not including the ten new judges appointed to the Court of Appeal, and an estimated increase of 10% in the number of court sitting days in recent years, despite reduced staffing and funding. It has also allowed us to initiate an ambitious public private partnership programme which will see the refurbishment of seven courthouses around the country in the coming years.

The Courts Service very much welcomes the funding and staffing provision sanctioned this year to support the establishment and running of the Court of Appeal. That court is now sitting and work on the infrastructure it will require is under way. We also welcome the increased funding announced for the Courts Service Vote for 2015. An increase in investment will continue to be required in the coming years to address the consequences of the austerity measures which had to be introduced. Investment is required in ICT, for example, which, if made, has the potential to bring about a transformation in the way the courts operate and achieve significant further savings. In the context of reduced resources and growing workloads, technology offers the best solution to enhancing customer service and delivering improved value for money.

Investment is also required to undertake a number of smaller courthouse capital refurbishment projects and urgent maintenance in courthouses. These works have continued to be deferred owing to a lack of funding and are now urgently required if the fabric of these buildings is not to be totally compromised and if the future of our historic structures is to be safeguarded.

The prioritisation of court sittings and front-line services has resulted in the stripping of back office and support functions, which in itself carries operational risks. The Courts Service has reached tipping point in regard to staff numbers. Additional staff are required if we are to continue to support court sittings as required by the presidents of the courts, maintain court services in offices around the country and support Government initiatives such as the implementation of the new fines legislation, new arrangements for the hearing of child care cases, the new legal costs adjudication regime to be provided for under the Legal Services Bill and the restructuring of the family law courts. Just as with the Court of Appeal which was successfully established on 28 October, the successful implementation of these initiatives will require provision of the necessary funding and staffing.

Our priority has always been and will continue to be the provision of front-line, core court services to support the Judiciary and court users. This can only be achieved through the ongoing review of the organisation and delivery of services and the continued implementation of our change and modernisation programme. The Courts Service strategic plan 2014–17 which sets out the key priorities for the service in the next three years has been submitted to the Minister for Justice and Equality for approval. Over the lifetime of the plan we propose to build on the progress made in the review and reform of our structures and service delivery to bring about improved services and value for money. We intend to focus on maximising the use of technology, developing our staff to ensure they have the necessary legal, technical and management skills and placing particular emphasis on the ongoing standardisation and rationalisation of processes and procedures to enable us to achieve significant economies and efficiencies in the delivery of services. The service will work to ensure we continue to improve services for court users, make the courts as accessible as possible and achieve real value for money in the provision of these services.