Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I hear that but I would argue that it is a wee bit misleading. We hear about increases in the number of judges and the number of sittings and we think that there is increased activity, while in fact it is the case that more complex cases are incurring these increased costs, as opposed to a dramatic increase in the number of cases being heard, which is not what we have before us. I want to move on from that.

On output, in terms of the Estimates process we have to measure not just the money, but the targets, which must then be compared with the outputs. I am completely confused now. The Minister of State has told us that the 2017 target for new court proceedings is 3,740 and he told us that the 2016 output was 3,554, yet the documentation before us does not reflect any of those numbers.