Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 20 November 2014
Public Accounts Committee
2013 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 22 - Courts Service
11:10 am
Mr. Brendan Ryan:
The representations I have got are about Waterford. I have no doubt there have been other cancellations, but I do not have those figures. It depends on the scheduling of cases in any Circuit Court in Ireland. They are scheduled a year in advance. They are scheduled either for criminal court, the civil court or the family court. If most of those scheduled sittings this month were criminal court, the impact on the civil court would be minimal because the judges are still dealing with criminal matters. If the scheduled sittings were for the civil court, as was the case in Waterford, unfortunately, the president has directed that criminal matters have to take priority because, as the Deputy will appreciate, people may be in custody.