Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My thanks to all the witnesses for their opening remarks and statements. I will turn to Ms McNally first. She made a lengthy submission to the committee in advance of today and we appreciate that. In her opening remarks, she covered proportionality and necessity arising from the emergency. It is crucial that the balance is struck, especially now as we move away from the more stringent restrictions in society and try to reopen the court services. I have several questions for Ms McNally on this.

Access to the courts, including the civil and criminal courts, is crucial. I wish to hone in on the criminal aspect first. Delays have not really been experienced because of the summer months and the lifting of the restrictions I have spoken about. Will Ms McNally give the committee a flavour of the range and types of cases we are talking about and the breadth of the cases that are being held up at present? What kind of delay are we talking about? Are we talking of a delay of eight or 12 months or longer? Obviously, it will be all approximate, but I would appreciate any comments.

Ms McNally specifically referenced the Central Criminal Court. There were statements about the Circuit Criminal Court and the Central Criminal Court. I presume the same applies in respect of the Special Criminal Court. Will Ms McNally elaborate on that matter as well? Ms McNally referred to dates and said that the Circuit Court was returning in September - at some point this month. Has the date been released?