Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important that we have information on anything we do. Any policy decisions we make have to be backed up by facts. That applies in any Department or role.

The focus of the modernisation programme is to ensure we have a more efficient system that people can use online, rather than the paper-based system on which the justice sector is still reliant, and one that it allows us to gather the data and information we need to develop policies.

The Judicial Council is working on sentencing guidelines, which will be very helpful in setting out a clear pathway specific to various types of cases, working in line with the legislation I have just mentioned and the various changes we may or may not make. We have seen how judicial guidelines on insurance costs have started to have a significant impact and how important it is to have that information and those data and to understand the impact of those data on the cost of insurance and how that impacts on community groups and others. We have been able, in certain instances, to use data to effect positive change. That is what I hope to do once the modernisation programme is complete.

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