Lorraine Higgins (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and commend him on introducing this Bill for debate and enactment. He is a reforming Minister and the steps that he has taken since assuming office have been welcome, not only for professionals operating within the legal system, but for consumers of legal services.

Without doubt, the Bill is key legislation and fundamental to the modernisation and reform of the courts and legal services. It provides for the establishment of a new court of appeal. Currently, Ireland is out of line with other common law jurisdictions, in that all appeals from the High Court are heard in the Supreme Court. Other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, have courts of appeal that hear appeals from their High Court equivalents. Only the more important cases, including those involving the development of law, are heard by the Supreme Court. Consequently, the highest courts in countries with much larger populations, such as the US and the UK, deal with proportionally fewer cases than the Irish Supreme Court does. A total of 605 cases were appealed to the Supreme Court last year, representing a 21% increase on the previous year. It issued 121 judgments compared with the 64 judgments issued by the US Supreme Court and the 85 judgments issued by the UK Supreme Court. When one considers their respective population sizes, this is clearly unsustainable.

Should this amendment to the Constitution be passed, a new court of appeal will be established. It will have two prongs - a court of civil appeal and a court of criminal appeal. Much time and deliberation have gone into the Bill's proposals, which are based on the Report of the Working Group on a Court of Appeal, published in 2009. That report concluded that, among other measures, the court's establishment would be necessary and would have a positive effect in terms of the efficiency and effectiveness of the courts system.

The court will be tasked with hearing appeals from the High Court. From my time working as a lawyer in the Four Courts, the new court will be a welcome departure, in that it will assist in reducing the time within which an appeal can be heard and will limit the remit of the Supreme Court, which will only hear cases on appeal from the court of appeal and, in exceptional circumstances, from the High Court. Given the robust economic situation of the Celtic tiger and the fallout from same in the shape of increased litigation, our court infrastructure has failed to keep up to speed. Our population has also grown, given the influx of people and businesses from other jurisdictions. All of these factors place further demands on our court system.

The ultimate appellate court, the Supreme Court, is dealing with a four-year backlog of cases. Exacerbating this situation is the fact that, in the past 40 years, there has been a six-fold increase in the number of High Court judges whereas the size of the Supreme Court has only doubled. Down the years, a plethora of new cases have necessitated the appointment of extra High Court judges in order to allow the system to operate effectively. However, the by-product of same is that more cases have been appealed to the Supreme Court, placing a large burden on the workload of the Judiciary in that court. These delays pose significant issues for consumers of the legal process.

From the infrastructure outlined in the Bill, it is clear that the appeals clogging up the list system in the Supreme Court will be dealt with by the proposed court of appeal and will not need the engagement of the Supreme Court. This is to be welcomed by legal services, as it is in the interests of justice that a litigant be allowed to litigate a claim within a reasonable time. Under the current regime, this is not always the case, given the aforementioned backlog. The establishment of the new court will change the situation dramatically.

It is important to business nationally and internationally that we have the best court system possible. In particular, a permanent court of criminal appeal is an essential cog in a functional criminal law system. This court will have the benefit of ensuring that those who are found guilty will be able to avail of the appeals process more quickly, as will the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, when appealing the leniency of a sentence or otherwise.

From the point at which the referendum is passed, the Supreme Court will be able to focus on cases of general public importance or on cases where there are specific reasons in the interests of justice for an appeal to be taken to that court. In doing this, we will ensure that the current delays will not be repeated. If the referendum is passed, it is important that the necessary courts establishment Bill be moved before the Houses at the earliest opportunity so that this new court can be established immediately.

I will express a reservation about the upcoming referendum. It is important to ensure that the wording is explained in lay man's terms so that the referendum is not seen as being alien to voters. People should not feel isolated by the language used. An all-embracing formula of words should be used, as the establishment of this legal infrastructure is essential to the proper functioning of our court system.

Having worked within Ireland's legal system for a number of years, I will campaign for a "Yes" vote in the referendum, as it is in everyone's interests.