Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I ask the Leader to arrange a debate in our next session on reform of the structure of the courts following from the Cabinet announcement yesterday in this regard. Reform of the courts is long overdue. The Courts Service pointed out in its annual report that 500 cases are now being heard by the Supreme Court annually, which is beyond the court's capacity. Some 18% of those cases involve lay litigants, who take up particular time, and it is clear that a court of appeal is needed. We should debate the issue in this House, however, because the proposal agreed by the Cabinet was for a court of civil appeal. It is equally, if not more, pressing that we establish a permanently constituted court of criminal appeal. Such a court was envisaged in legislation as far back as 1995 but has not yet been established. As a result concerns have arisen about inconsistencies in appeal court judgments and these are contributing to a lengthy case list and delays in the Supreme Court.

I am delighted that the Minister for Justice and Equality has also proposed to change the nature of the judicial oath to enable individuals to make secular declarations as well as religious oaths. We should also consider changing the presidential oath to allow incumbents the choice of making a secular declaration if they so wish. A number of interesting and positive recommendations have been tabled and it would be worthwhile to debate them in this House before we see the shape of the referendum so that we can influence the changes.

I also call for a debate on prisons in the next session, including in particular the report on penal reform which the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality will publish by the end of the year. We paid a stimulating and informative visit to Wheatfield Prison yesterday, where we heard about the Samaritans listener service. This is an innovative suicide and self-harm prevention programme run within the prison community. I pay tribute to the prisoners trained as peer listeners who provide an important service in almost half of the State's prisons. We should support the roll-out of the service by the Samaritans across other prisons. The Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who was with us on the visit, was very supportive of the service.