Mr. Brendan Ryan:

Back in 2008, the Courts Service had a budget of €9.7 million for IT. It is now €4.8 million and has been so for the past five years. That figure does not keep our systems ticking over. We need a minimum of €6.7 million to maintain our existing system. That is not even to enhance our system. While I am pleased we got moneys for staff in the 2016 budget, we also applied for an extra €2 million for IT to bring it up to the minimum level of €6.7 million. Unfortunately, we have not got a single penny of additional funding for IT.

This is a significant area of concern to me and I will be reporting on it to the board at its December meeting. To bridge the gap between the allocated €4.6 million and the minimum level required of €6.7 million, we have to take moneys from the capital building programme, which was reduced significantly as well. We have €4 million a year for capital projects, which does not allow us undertake any major projects. For the past several years, we have been using that money to support the IT system. This cannot continue.

We have not maintained our court venues for the past six years, which is another concern. During the week, to my disquiet, I was informed the roof in the Naas courthouse will have to be replaced next year. This is an urgent matter but it involves €300,000 for which we have not budgeted. These are the issues affecting courthouse maintenance. We cannot continue taking money from a capital building project to support our IT. While we will have staffing to support all court sittings, I am concerned there will be some problems with pre-court or post-court work. Mr. John Coyle has referred to systems in the District and Circuit Courts. I am not saying they will crash but they are not being kept up to date.

We are still working off Windows XP because we cannot afford to upgrade. Windows has progressed with five different versions since then and Windows XP is not supported anymore. Mr. Quigley, the accountant of the courts of justice, is working off an Agresso system which is three generations behind and is not supported anymore. Although we only looked for €2 million, unfortunately, under the capital investment programme, that money was not available. It will be 2017 again before that is reviewed. We have two years of scraping around looking for money to make sure the system does not collapse. As chief executive of the Courts Service, my main concern is the lack of investment in ICT and, not because of our commitment, something will go wrong with our infrastructure which will impede the courts.