Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I hope that the report tells him what everybody has told us. Everybody, including members of the Judiciary, the legal profession and the Courts Service, have told us that there is a crisis situation in all of the court systems, and particularly an acute situation in family law in the District Courts and Circuit Courts. That situation is primarily due to not having enough judges to deal with the volume of cases before the courts. In some situations, depending on where you are in the country, the situation is particularly worrying in cases where there is domestic violence or domestic abuse. I know that interim orders can be obtained but to get a proper day in court people must wait a very long time in some parts of the country, which is an issue that must be addressed quickly, efficiently and effectively.

In some places there are issues with how court services are organised. I mean some things do not work as well as they possibly could. As has been mentioned, sometimes we can find a particular project and point it out as being best practice, and people ask why can something not be done equally well as in other situations. I think the same can be said about the Courts Service as things are done really well in some places but not so well in others so I ask for this matter to be examined.

The Family Courts Bill is in train and I hope that the new family courts in Dublin will be up and running soon. I would like an update on this matter.