Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this opportunity to speak on the Bill. It is a Bill of necessity and good practice. It is probably one of the most overused quotes at this stage, but what Martin Luther King Jnr. said in his "Letter from Birmingham Jail" - that "justice too long delayed is justice denied" - remains true and relevant. Facing a court appearance, be it as an accused, a witness or a victim, is a stressful time in a person's life, especially for the victim, assuming he or she has survived. It can often be worse for the families: there is the suspense and the imagination of what the possible outcome might be. For victims and witnesses, it can also be a time of doubt, a time when they may wonder whether it is in their best interests to engage with our justice system at all.

This is necessary legislation as we have our obligations under Article 6.1 of the European Convention on Human Rights to provide the right to a fair trial in a reasonable period. The passing of this Bill will put that requirement on a statutory footing in this State. The Bill legislates for this necessity and outlines potential remedies if this legal requirement is breached. The enacting of the Bill on its own, however, will not ensure that trials are held promptly. We have a shortage of judges, and that has impacted the ability to deliver justice consistently and in a timely manner. I welcome the recent commitment to 24 new judges in 2023, with a further 20 to follow. Additionally, as the Minister of State mentioned last week, there seems to be a positive impact following the introduction of preliminary trial hearings. The handling of certain issues together in one of these pre-trial hearings allows for a speedier, more efficient trial.

I and my party agree that more needs be done to ensure that trials are held in a fair and prompt manner. In my home constituency, Limerick City, we have a state-of-the-art courthouse, opened in 2018. It is rarely if ever fully occupied, despite a large backlog of cases that need to be addressed. It has six courtrooms, and it would be quite unusual to see more than half of them in operation on any given day. Last week on the rollover call there were 246 cases waiting in the Circuit Court. At present, those cases are awaiting trial by jury. Those are just criminal cases. In the civil Circuit Court there are around 1,000 cases waiting. That is a huge backlog that impacts countless lives. Many of these criminal cases are for serious crimes involving drug dealing on a major scale and related issues. I recently tabled a parliamentary question on the utilisation of the courthouse. Subsequently, the Central Criminal Court began sitting in Limerick for a limited period. Even now, despite state-of-the-art facilities, no more sittings of the Central Criminal Court are scheduled for Limerick for the remainder of this year. It has been confirmed to members of the legal profession in Limerick that the Central Criminal Court will not sit in Limerick again this year. That must be reversed and the court must sit in Limerick again in 2023 to try to deal with some of the backlog which has accrued.

Does the Minister of State think it would be appropriate to direct a permanent sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Limerick, where there is a specialist criminal courthouse? At present, a number of courtrooms are unused every day. We know that the Judiciary is happy to sit there. In October of last year a High Court judge, Mr. Justice Paul McDermott, said:

Judges are very mindful of the extreme stress the cases this court hears can cause for people who are an alleged victim in the case. It’s important that when venues become available they are used.

He said of Limerick court buildings: "If it were available, we would be using it." The blockage is with the Courts Service, not the judges. I would like to hear what plans there are to make the maximum use of the new courts complex in Limerick, which was opened in 2018.

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