Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Baineann an Bille seo le rud a bhfuil tionchar aige ar go leor gnéithe den saol agus de ghnó daoine, ó thaobh ábhair teaghlaigh, ábhair coiriúla, ábhair tráchtála, agus fiú amháin ábhair tithíochta agus ábhair bóithre ó thaobh pleanála de. Is é tionchar na moille air seo ná go gcuireann sé stop le cinntí atá le déanamh agus go gcuireann sé stop le go leor gnéithe de shaol na ndaoine.

We will probably all come back to the same cliché that justice delayed is justice denied. In many ways, it is more than justice denied. Very often, this chokes up the system in so many areas of life, which I will return to, whether these are housing, education, planning, the Coroner's Court or the family court. It chokes up further consequent decisions for families, the State, local authorities and any kind of organisation or individual, including very vulnerable individuals. They are all delayed and pulled up by the delays in our courts.

On the backlogs we are facing, it occurs to me that if the judicial system were explained to a child, it all seems very logical. You could say that where there are two individuals who have a dispute they cannot resolve, they go to the courts, the courts decide and that is where it goes, or if somebody is facing a crime, it goes before the courts and the courts decide. The problem, which is not obvious from that description, is that people could be waiting a year for a very brief hearing. They could be waiting and, at any stage over the course of the next year, they might get a hearing followed by an adjournment. It goes on and on like that with, very often, no obvious end in sight. That has major implications for access to justice because people, particularly those on low incomes or vulnerable people, when they decide whether they will take the very brave, courageous and frightening step of taking the State, a local authority, a company or anyone to court, the consequences are weighty, not only financially. There is not only a potential risk to their home, but their life may be on hold over the course of the next few years.

I spoke to a gentleman yesterday who took a court case relating to an education matter. I am sure there are many worse examples, but it demonstrates the kind of ways this impinges on people's lives. He usually brings his mother on holidays at a particular time of year but he could not do so this year because he was aware - not that anything was scheduled - that at any stage he could be called for a court hearing and there could be an adjournment. It impinges in much more significant and weighty ways than that. That is simply the example I heard yesterday.

The causes of this situation are quite obvious and plain. We clearly do not have enough judges compared with our European equivalents. We have 3.27 judges per 100,000 people compared with a European average of 17.6. The number of judges is more than four times greater in other European jurisdictions. This Bill is about compensation but we also need to address the issue of delays. This Bill specifically provides for the compensation of defendants, victims and witnesses, but individuals such as gardaí, courts staff, judges and lawyers are also impacted by long delays. Too many victims and ordinary plaintiffs are forced to wait for long periods as courts struggle to keep on top of caseloads. As I mentioned, this clogs up so many elements. Very few parts of our courts or judicial system are unaffected by this.

Like Deputy Gould, I worked with the family of Evan Gearns who waited more than two years for a coroner's hearing. I have been also dealing with families who have been waiting for a very long time in respect of the family courts. There is currently a lot of discussion regarding international protection. It is not right, either for the applicant or the international protection system, that the delays both in processing and in the court hearings that follow are so lengthy. It is not fair on anyone involved in the system. It is not right that any decisions that have to be made on whether there are judicial reviews of road applications, housing or anything to do with infrastructure are tied up. It is not right in respect of people who are simply trying to vindicate their educational rights, whether that concerns an assessment of need, an interpreter or some piece of equipment. These are all the kind of things that families and very ordinary people have to go to the courts to fight for, yet their lives could be tied up for two to three years without any certainty as to the outcome. This is a very fundamental issue that feeds into so many aspects of life and needs to be addressed.

The issue of compensation is certainly important for those whose justice is delayed and is, therefore, denied. We also need to look at how we resolve this for all those categories of people who are affected.

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