Ms Geraldine Hurley:

The Chairman mentioned issues about the resourcing of the Courts Service. It is true to say that during the period, from 2008 up to 2014, there was a significant reduction in the staffing of the Courts Service. That was also reflected in the staffing of the wards of court, as with all offices. Our staffing overall reduced, from over 1,080 down to just over 900. Each area in the Courts Service had to prioritise and in the wards of court cases, ongoing case management of cases was achieved thanks to the commitment of the staff in the various operational areas. It was a very significant reduction in the staff that we were communicating on an ongoing basis to the Department of Justice and Equality, and onwards to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, DPER. We were not alone in that situation but when one is in an operational area, one very much has to prioritise key tasks and key operational priorities which, as I say, in the case of the wards of courts office, was case management. The registrar of the wards of court and his staff are acutely aware of the importance of them moving on cases and moving on decisions, and moving on payments or purchases that have to be done on a day-to-day basis, and that was prioritised over the desirability of issuing statements to all committees of wards. Mr. Finn was going to add something.