Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

On Senator Terry's point, more judges are required. I intend in the near future to bring a memorandum to Government in that regard. If I am successful at Government, I may amend this legislation as it goes through the Dáil and bring it back here in an amended form, providing for extra judges. I must first go through that procedure. I agree that in an increasingly complex world, with judges having more and more duties and more and more enactments to consider, and with increasing population and, unfortunately, an increasing caseload in some areas at any rate, it is necessary to have more judges.

Senator Mansergh asked a question regarding the types of cases where judgments could be reserved to the point where significant difficulty arose. There have been cases in the past, and I do not want to mention any names because it would be unfair to do so, where some judgments have been undelivered for in excess of 12 months and in some case for more than two years. That has given rise to difficulty. On one occasion an application was made to the European Court of Human Rights based on the failure of the Irish courts to deliver a reserved judgment in a case and compensation was awarded to the party affected by it.

In the context of the recent ECHR legislation which I piloted through the Houses and which is now law, I exempted the Judiciary, the administration of justice, from the application of the Act itself, but a quid pro quo or balancing item in regard to that was that this measure would be put in place. In other words, there would be an effective means of monitoring any failure in that regard. I do not want to interfere with the independence of the Judiciary. However, what I want to do above all is to ensure that no litigant ends up waiting years for a judgment and wondering what happened to that judgment. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, and very frequently without any malice or conscious default, some cases are sidelined in this way. The effect on the litigants is very significant.

A judge was effectively forced to resign in the UK because of an inability to deliver reserve judgments within a reasonable period. It is, therefore, not a matter which is confined entirely to Ireland. It seems this mechanism is the best one to make sure that it does not happen. Let us say that Senator Mansergh was a judge and a defaulter in this respect. If he kept reading in the newspapers that he was the worst judge and that his slow speed was the subject of public comment, it would act as an incentive to clear away the arrears and get on with the task. It is a gentle way of ensuring that the task is done. Given that a public register is involved, it gives a strong motivation to the Judiciary to ensure that the maxim that justice delayed is justice denied does not apply to its proceedings.

Senator Mansergh asked if there was some form of central register in existence at present. The answer is that there is not. The presidents of some of the courts have written circulars, talked to the registrars of the courts and, on an informal basis, brought delayed judgments to the attention of the members of their courts. There is no organised system at present of a statutory nature. Once the light of media and public attention is shone into the dark corner of reserve judgments, the problem should disappear.