John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have asked the Minister several questions, which he has not answered. I simply want to go back to those questions. Does the Minister believe that the President of the High Court, and thereafter the President of the Circuit Court, were using these cancellations to force the Minister to appoint more judges? Where is the business case showing the numbers required for these judges? Where is the information to inform me, as a Member of this House, that these judges were in fact needed? Is it time to review the 1998 Act so that we can have a better system to manage these cases? Is it not interesting that the President of the High Court cancelled the session in Kilkenny? The Minister's reply did not include an alternative date when that will happen. Urgent cases are to come to Dublin. The whole idea of provincial sittings is to deal with issues at that level and give people a chance. In my opinion they have not been given a chance. They have been shown a great discourtesy by the Judiciary.

This comes at a time when the President of the High Court has decided that he does not need Mr. Edmund Honohan any more. He took from him a body of work that he was doing very capably and gave it to several other judges. Is Mr. Edmund Honohan not being used to his full potential? Are the other judges so overworked that they cannot manage their caseloads? What is going on here? A serious cost to the State arises from all of this. For far too long we have left the management and functions of the Judiciary out of the loop. We should not be afraid to determine if it is giving value for money and if its members are actually needed. Maybe we should ask them to fob in. Then we will get a better picture of things.

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