Ms Eilis Barry:

Much can be done without enormous resources. Things such as the courts website need to be dramatically updated and modernised with guides and visual aids in order that people will have access to information about what will happen, what will be involved and how long it is likely to take before they go near the door of a court. The programme for Government made a commitment to carrying out an annual review of indicators of access to justice. We feel there is a real need for solid information to be available to the likes of this committee as to what are the delays in the courts system and that people will have an idea whether it us going to take three or four years for a person's family law case to be dealt with? The courts services should easily have access to this information. They should easily have access as to whether someone is legally aided or not. We need to develop indicators that we can look at, such as whether mediation is available, how long will the courts process take and what is the minimum number of judges required to process these cases in a timely and efficient manner. One issue is we do not think that there is a sufficient number of judges dealing with family law cases. There needs to be at least 80 judges.