Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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3. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if the Courts Service has the resources required to deal with the backlog of cases in courts due to Covid-19 restrictions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42654/20]

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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I wish to ask the Minister about the resources to deal with the backlogs of court cases. As we know, the pandemic has created a situation where an awful lot of court summonses have been delayed and backlogged. Up to 95,000 summonses are now in a backlog, with approximately 4,500 summonses being generated every week on top of that. The Courts Service, naturally, is doing its best to deal with this but it really needs more resources. It needs to be able to up its capacity considerably, and for it to do so, the Minister will need to put more resources in place to ensure adequate staff levels to deal with this.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I am committed, as is the Government, to ensuring adequate resources for the courts to maintain access to justice for all citizens, not just throughout this pandemic but at all times. This commitment was reinforced recently with the highest ever budgetary allocation for the justice sector, including €158.8 million for the Courts Service. This included €8 million for the new courts modernisation programme along with an additional provision of €5.7 million for Covid measures to enable court sittings to take place in a socially distanced and safe environment. A significant priority for my Department and the Courts Service in the years ahead will be to invest significantly in digital technology in order to transform the experience of practitioners and court users.

Furthermore, the July stimulus package had previously assigned €5 million to the Courts Service, with €1.7 million of the funds to be invested before year end in ICT to install video technology systems to support the holding of remote court proceedings. As of 27 November 2020, 1,941 hearings have been conducted remotely across all jurisdictions and, thankfully, this will continue to increase.

The Government endeavours to ensure that courts continue to operate as effectively and as efficiently as possible. My Department is in constant contact with the Courts Service. We have maintained a schedule of regular interactions with the service throughout the pandemic to try to support it in addressing the issues the Deputy has outlined that have arisen during this crisis, including where backlogs have arisen.

I am pleased that, even during the first period of the pandemic, the courts continued to sit on priority matters in the areas of family law and criminal matters, especially cases involving people in custody, bail, urgent injunctions and domestic violence. In past weeks, even though the entire country was under level 5 lockdown restrictions, the courts remained open and dealt with a wider level of business.

Meanwhile, the Courts Service continues to work with the Judiciary to prioritise business and the holding of court proceedings to address areas of concern. The Courts Service has shown impressive innovation and adaptability during the Covid-19 pandemic and in maintaining vital front-line services for those who need them, including the most vulnerable victims of domestic abuse, as I mentioned.

There are plans to install remote hearing equipment in 43 more courtrooms over the next few months and to bring even further venues on stream, which will enable more cases to be heard in a safe manner and further reduce backlogs. The ultimate aim is to reduce the backlog levels to pre-Covid numbers.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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We understand and appreciate the work that has been done and that many of the courts are doing their best in difficult circumstances. I agree with the Minister, however, that a greater level of new technology needs to be brought into play, particularly video links between the courts and the prisons and so on to try to resolve many of these issues whereby people are going for short sittings, which basically get the nod and go back again. All this can be done remotely and using technology if possible, but an awful lot of our courts around the country do not have that technology in place, and that investment needs to be put in place as quickly as possible. Apart from that, because of the large backlog that has built up, there will be a necessity to have more cases dealt with more quickly and the time allocated and the number of sittings per month may need to be expanded. The Minister will have to see what resources will be needed to do that. The argument has often been made that justice delayed is justice denied, and certainly some people would make that argument very strongly from an accused's perspective. The level of attention that this needs has to be brought to bear on it, and the Minister needs to ensure there will be adequate resources to pay the additional staff because it will take many additional staff to do this.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I fully agree with the Deputy. We all heard this morning the figure of 122,000 as the initial backlog of summonses. Significant work has been done to clear that. There have been 97,000 cases heard since July alone in this particular area, but there was a backlog before Covid-19 started. That is why we need to make sure we have additional resources. It is why we need to look at the overall spaces we have, and that work has been happening through Covid-19, particularly for criminal trials. It is why we need to look at the number of judges we have to see if it is enough. It is why we need to continue to invest in digital technology, and I am very pleased about the 1,941 cases I have outlined. It might seem like a small number but it is multiples of what was heard this time last year. With 34 new venues getting digital technology, we hope those numbers will continue to increase. Part of my overall plan within the Department is to digitalise the justice sector in general. The courts are a huge part of that, and the more we can move into that space, as the Deputy says, the more quickly we can hear these cases and get through these kinds of backlogs.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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We need as much pressure as possible brought to bear on this to ensure we can deliver as quickly as possible. I fully appreciate that the Courts Service has done a lot of work and done its best in the context of the pandemic. However, there are people out there who find themselves before the courts, and I have spoken to a number of them. For some it is a family issue and for others it is a small case, a criminal matter that normally would not be overbearing on anyone. This has gone on for so long, and these people have these cases hanging over them that cannot be dealt with and continue to be deferred. It is putting a lot of pressure on people. In the context of a pandemic, when people already feel under pressure, it is important that the Courts Service is seen to be an area where we can deliver for people. There is also pressure on solicitors and the entire legal profession as to how they find they are able to deal with this situation. Sometimes they are very frustrated on behalf of their clients in trying to ensure they get access to the courts and get minor enough matters dealt with quickly and appropriately.

We have an opportunity here. As the Minister said, before there was a pandemic there was a backlog, which tells us there was a problem even pre pandemic, so we need to be able to deal with that as quickly as possible.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Unfortunately, Covid-19 has impacted all our lives, and it is no different for the Courts Service, those who work in it and those who avail of its services. It is important to thank those who work in the Courts Service, our legal professions and An Garda Síochána because, while they have had to put a lot of cases on hold particularly since the summer, there have been meetings every week to try to come together to address these backlogs and move things along. As I said, even as far as the summonses are concerned, 97,000 cases have been heard since July, which just shows the huge amount of work that has happened. There are also conversations taking place on expanding the hours, which the Deputy mentioned in his initial comment on sittings of the District Court. An effort is being made to make sure that as many cases are heard as is possible. It is unfortunate that from the middle of March a lot of the non-serious cases, as they were deemed, although they were extremely important to those involved, had to be put on hold and the courts have only been listening to or hearing family law cases, domestic violence cases and other serious and criminal cases. I am glad, however, that most of the hearings in the various courts have resumed and the numbers of cases heard have increased. We will continue to work with the courts in order that they may continue to clear those backlogs as quickly as possible.