Dr. Carol Coulter:

We have seen lists of more than 120 cases in one day. In theory, the length of the court day is six hours, so it is not necessary to be a mathematician to work that out as three minutes per case. The crowding in some places is unbelievable. That is not universal and, in Dublin, it certainly works much better. It just cannot be possible to devote adequate attention to all of the cases, even if many of them are adjournments, for mention and other technical things that have to be done.

There is a need in the District Court for resources to be put into case management so cases can be planned, people know when they are coming up, and they know the documents they must have and the reports that must be in. In a handful of courts around the country, judges attempt to do that, but they are in a minority. That goes back to the first question the Senator asked, as to why we are here. Family law has been the poor relation of the legal system for far too long. It does not involve crime, which gets headlines in the newspapers, or money and commercial transactions, by and large, and those cases, rather than the welfare of families, have been prioritised in our court system through the decades.

It is more than 20 years since the Courts Service's special committee, headed by the former Chief Justice, Susan Denham, recommended a family court, which means not a physical structure but an organisational structure. That would allow for coherence, specialist judges, as we keep saying, and case management. It would mean that if a decision is made about the hearsay evidence from a child in a District Court, or preferably if it is made by the High Court as to how it happens, one will not be going back to a situation where every time the issue arises in Donegal, Limerick, Dublin and so forth there are a couple of days devoted to arguing about it all over again. That type of coherence must be brought into the system. It has been sought repeatedly. I understand the heads of a Bill are lurking or are in preparation. I appeal to all the members, as legislators, to push the Minister and the Department of Justice and Equality to bring forward what is in process in the Department and ensure it is enacted as quickly as possible.