James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Kenny for raising this important matter. An independent, impartial and efficient Judiciary and courts system is critical to our democracy. The Government will work with the Courts Service and the Judiciary to deliver a number of important commitments in the programme for Government, which will help ensure that we have a modern Courts Service. This includes enacting a Family Court Bill to create a new dedicated Family Court within the existing court structure and to provide for court procedures that support a less adversarial resolution of disputes.

We plan to establish a new planning and environmental law court managed by specialist judges. We will implement reforms to the administration of civil justice in the State, covering matters such as the more efficient and effective deployment of court and judicial resources.

My Department is committed to driving the modernisation and digital first agenda across the entire justice sector. This is reflected in the additional funding of €2.5 million provided in budget 2023 for the courts modernisation programme. This builds on significant investment in recent years.

The Courts Service modernisation programme is a ten-year programme which will deliver a new operating model for the Courts Service designed around the user, with simplified and standardised services and accessible data to inform decisions, all delivered through digital solutions. I welcome in particular the commitment set out by the Courts Service in its Corporate Strategic Plan 2021-2023, to maximise the use of digital technologies to provide an improved and user-centred service. This commitment is integral to making our justice system work better for everyone by improving systems and increasing efficiencies.

The Courts Service engages with the Judiciary, a wide range of stakeholders and court users as these improved services are developed. Significant progress has already been made in introducing digital technologies that improve access to justice and provide a better and user-centred service.

Towards the end of 2020, the Courts Service committed an investment in excess of €2.2 million to expand the number of courtrooms that are technology enabled. These courtrooms support remote and hybrid hearings and allow parties, witnesses, prisoners, or An Garda Síochána, to dial in remotely to a physical courtroom and to support digital evidence display. The project brought the number of up-to-date technology courtrooms from 55 in 2020 to 118 at the end of 2022.

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