Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am encouraged to hear there is unanimous recognition of the need for more judges. We need a mature discussion on this matter. With the greatest of respect to members of the Judiciary, who work hard, this is not about judges, but about ensuring that everyone in our country can access justice in a speedier manner. There is plenty of empirical evidence that we do not have enough judges. As night follows day, this leads to delays. The Chair is right, in that this is not to say that the modernisation and reform agenda is not an important part of the conversation – it is a very important part of it – but even if we implemented it all, we would not get away from the fact that we did not have enough judges to deliver on objectives that the Houses set as priority areas.

Deputies Ó Ríordáin, Kenny and Daly raised the issue of family courts. The families in question are in a vulnerable, difficult and stressful time of their lives and are looking to resolve or progress sensitive and important issues, yet they are facing delays. I am proud that we are progressing the Family Courts Bill. I was heartened by its Second Stage debate in the Seanad last week. We are going to set up a family High Court, a family Circuit Court and a family District Court so that there will be a different and child-centred approach to family law, not only in a physical sense in terms of infrastructure and how people go in and out of court, but also in an actual sense. Specialist judges will work in our family courts. The Bill passed Second Stage in the Seanad last week. There is political consensus on getting it passed by the Houses as quickly as possible and having the family court structure in place.

Regarding immigration, people ask me why there are such long backlogs in decision making at certain times. We will get to that Vote, and while we must make progress on the IPO and so on, we must also recognise that people have a right to access court and do access court. We need to resource the courts in that regard.

The Government wishes to, and will, see the establishment of an environmental planning division in the High Court to ensure that planning and environmental decisions can be addressed through our judicial system more quickly. A greater volume of work is going through the courts than they would have been used to previously.

A commencement order has been signed in respect of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act. From the end of this week, it will bring a new and welcome body of work to the Circuit Court, which is a matter that Deputy Ó Ríordáin highlighted. There is a Government decision to assign three additional judges to the Circuit Court to reflect that body of work, and I will move through that process in the normal way in the coming weeks.

Ms Brigid McManus, formerly Secretary General of what was then the Department of Education and Skills as well as the holder of other roles in the public service, was chosen to chair the judicial planning group. It is not that I am avoiding the Acting Chairman's question, but the group was tasked with analysing and coming up with answers to his question about how many judges Ireland should have, what level we needed to reach and what the landscape looked like now and into the future. I only received the report in the past couple of weeks, but it is my intention to move on it with haste and enthusiasm. It is a good piece of work. I intend to bring it to the Cabinet shortly and, subject to Cabinet agreement, I hope to act on it. Watch this space.

The issue of support staff, which the Acting Chairman rightly highlighted, is an important one. In fairness to my colleague, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, we received a significant allocation in the budget for support staff. The judge is an essential piece of the jigsaw of public infrastructure, but so, too, are the support structures around the judge. My Department already has funding in place for the support staff required for an increase in numbers in the Judiciary. As committee members will know, judicial pay is dealt with from the centre. We come to this discussion at Government level having already secured quite a deal of funding for support staff structures. The judge is an important piece of the jigsaw, but so is the efficient administration of the courts.