Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I understand it I have not less than 15 minutes. It would not be possible to respond to all of the issues within 15 minutes.

Deputies Collins, Mac Lochlainn and Murphy raised the possible effect on judges and court offices of the increased jurisdiction of the Circuit and District Courts. I am also aware similar statements have been made by bodies such as the Law Society, the chairman of the Irish Brokers Association and the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. The House should be aware that when handing over the Courts Service annual report for 2012 earlier this week, the Chief Justice noted that waiting times in courts throughout the country were at their lowest for several years. The Government has nominated two judges to fill existing District Court vacancies and a Circuit Court vacancy will be filled as soon as possible.

The Courts Services is in the process of closing the remaining smaller venues and generally rationalising its network of venues thus facilitating greater efficiency and throughput. As Deputies will realise, the structure of the District and Circuit Courts means that outside of Dublin where there is reasonable capacity the increased volume will be geographically dispersed. The Courts Service has amalgamated court offices throughout the country and generally feels the volume can be handed from an administrative point of view, but it will monitor the situation carefully, and no doubt if difficulties arise they will be reported to me.

The increase in jurisdiction is a matter which has received some publicity in recent days but which was not an issue that was particularly raised by Members of the House. It is an important matter which I should address. There has been a suggestion that higher insurance costs could result from the changes in the monetary jurisdiction limits for the District and Circuit Courts. Statements issued by the chairman of the Irish Brokers Association and the Personal Injuries Assessment Board referred to the increase in jurisdiction causing an inflationary effect on personal injury claims and an increase in insurance costs being passed on to consumers.

It is important to note that the monetary jurisdiction limits of the Circuit and District courts have effectively remained unchanged since 1991. If that argument were taken at face value, it would be a reason never to increase the courts' jurisdiction in the area of personal injuries. What is being alleged in this context is not valid, and there is no research basis for suggesting that the proposed increases would have any such effect.

The Courts Act 1991 set the monetary jurisdiction limits for civil matters at €38,092 in the Circuit Court and €6,384 in the District Court. The Courts and Court Officers Act 2002 made statutory provision for increases in this regard, to €100,000 in the Circuit Court and €20,000 in the District Court, but these new limits were never brought into force. Accordingly, 11 years since the 2002 legislation was enacted, court jurisdiction limits remain at the levels set out in 1991. That makes no sense on the basis of inflation alone. The District Court today is exercising a lower-value jurisdiction in real terms than it did in 1991, and the same applies to the Circuit Court. This means that a substantially larger number of cases than necessary are being heard in the higher courts, with substantial additional costs to litigators.

The Bill increases the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court to €75,000 and that of the District Court to €15,000. The press release by the Irish Brokers' Association in which it criticised the proposed increases in the jurisdictional limits referred to the District Court jurisdiction being increased to €35,000, which is totally inaccurate. In regard to concerns about a possible inflationary effect on personal injury claims, we have dealt with this matter cautiously. The jurisdiction of the Circuit Court in this area is being increased only to €66,000, whereas in all other areas the new limit is €75,000. Taking inflation into account, this means the Circuit Court's jurisdiction will remain slightly below where it was in 1991 in real terms. In fact, based on inflation alone, the new threshold should be at least €65,000. Moreover, the new limit is 40% less than the equivalent level prescribed by the Courts and Court Officers Act 11 years ago. That increase was never brought into force because the same complaint was made at the time. As a consequence, the courts' jurisdictions have been frozen for 22 years, which makes absolutely no sense.

The suggestion has been made that these changes will increase the level of awards the courts will make, and that this is my intention in bringing forward the legislation. To be clear, my intention is that we have a court jurisdictional base which makes sense, that those who litigate do not incur unnecessary legal costs, and that the rights of citizens are protected. If citizens believe their rights are not being appropriately protected, whether in the personal injuries area or any other area, they should have access to the appropriate court at the lowest level of legal costs that can and need be incurred. It is entirely wrong to assume that judges will misinterpret the provisions contained in this Bill, simply because the jurisdiction limits have been increased, and thus routinely make larger awards to individuals than are merited by the particular case. It is estimated that, on average, the legal cost of taking a case in the Circuit Court, subject to the complexity of the case, is 30% lower than in the High Court. An appropriate increase in the jurisdiction levels is long overdue to ensure the courts are dealing with cases at an appropriate level and the costs incurred by parties are reasonable.

There were 375 awards made by the High Court in personal injury cases in 2012. Of these, 162 involved payments of less than €60,000, which is the new limit for personal injury awards in the Circuit Court. Under this legislation, those awards, if dealt with at Circuit Court level, would have resulted in legal costs being 30% lower for both plaintiff and defendant. Of the 1,485 awards made in the Circuit Court - this is a very interesting figure - 1,315 were between zero and €20,000. Based on these figures, a majority of the awards made in the Circuit Court in 2012 could now be dealt with at District Court level, which would involve a very substantial reduction in legal costs. In addition, a substantial number of cases that are currently dealt with in the High Court will in future be dealt with at Circuit Court level.

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