James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the good work the Minister of State is doing on the gambling regulation Bill, the report on which we published recently in the committee, along with the Minister and others. Judicial numbers is a concern that I may not have expected at the outset of this Dáil term. When we began hearings at the Joint Committee on Justice, almost without exception, the witnesses on a variety of topics and areas expressed a concern that the number of judges on the Bench was inadequate. This affects a number of areas in the judicial system, in terms of the administration of justice, trials waiting to be heard, victims of domestic violence waiting to get their day out and many others who cannot have their issues resolved because of the lack of judges.

I know that the numbers are quite low. Unfortunately, we rank towards the bottom of the European league table in terms of the number in the Judiciary per head of population. I appreciate that the Minister was out of action at the time, but I was concerned by a comment made by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, in recent months about the effective cost of a High Court judge, that being the salary cost. It is approximately €100,000 to €150,000. That is a very populist and narrow way to approach the issue. We should not be looking at the salary of individuals but at how many divorces, criminal trials, legislative amendments and civil or commercial matters over which they will preside.

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