Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)

As regards judicial resourcing, the Judicial Planning Working Group was established in 2021 in line with the previous programme for Government and submitted its report in February 2023. This led to the appointment of 24 additional judges in 2023 and Government approval for the appointment of an additional 20 judges in October 2024. The Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, intends to request the Judicial Appointments Commission to initiate the selection processes for these judges later this year. Taken together, these two sets of appointments represent an increase of approximately 25% in the number of judges in Ireland.

As regards the specialisation, which the Deputy queried, the Family Courts Act provides for the new positions of principal judges of the family high court, the family circuit court and the family district court to be created as specific assignments. The principal judge of each of the family court divisions will manage the business of each of those divisions.

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