Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I too wish to follow Senators Noone and Coughlan who raised the comments of the Chief Justice on the court system. This is a very important issue that needs to be considered. There was a proposal to have a court of civil appeal. We already have a court of Criminal Appeal, which has worked very effectively.

The reason it is important to deal with this issue in the Supreme Court relates to the area of family law, where there is substantial delay.

In fairness to the Courts Service, it is doing everything possible to try to prioritise issues and cases. However, the delays are causing considerable problems. This needs to be dealt with at a very early date. If we need a constitutional amendment to create a court of civil appeal, we should make it. The last thing we need is a three or four year delay between dealing with a case in the High Court and its admission to the Supreme Court. This issue needs to be tackled with as much urgency as possible.

A large number of cases in the Supreme Court involve lay litigants, which is causing problems. I have no difficulty with lay litigants ? people acting for themselves ? but the procedure is not straightforward, thereby causing complications. People may not fully understand the procedure involved. We need to consider this issue if we are setting up a court of civil appeal with a view to having cases dealt with at an early date, rather than having prolonged delays in dealing with them. I ask that the Minister for Justice and Equality take on board the comments being made.