Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I welcome this proposal to amend the Constitution and to set up a court of appeal. In regard to the court system, as far back as 1994 I recall we had a problem in Cork where there were over 6,000 cases on the personal injury waiting list for a hearing in the High Court. I remember being on a "Morning Ireland" show with the Minister at the time, Deputy Willie O'Dea, seeking the appointment of extra judges. At that time we had 17 High Court judges. Now we have 36. In fairness, appointments have been made over past few years and the backlog in the High Court is not as severe as the backlog we have in the Supreme Court.

I have been in and out of the Supreme Court on a number of occasions over the past few years and one of the problems I see in regard to it is that appeals to the Supreme Court are being used in order to delay judgments. Some people withdraw their case at the last minute, having used the process knowing full well there would be a delay. I know they must file the documentation, but they use the process because of the delay in it. They know there is a waiting list of four years and that gives them some breathing time to try to deal with the issue. These people are using the appeal process wrongly. Setting up the process of an appeal court will eliminate this abuse of the current court system.

One issue with which I have difficulty - the Supreme Court also finds difficulty with this - concerns the number of cases before the Supreme Court where there are lay litigants. I do not suggest that people are not entitled to bring their appeals to the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court finds it must give additional assistance to people who are lay litigants. This adds to the workload of the Supreme Court. I hope that the speeding up of the appeals process from the High Court will reduce the number of appeals filed. The four-year delay that exists across the board, particularly in the area of family law, has major consequences for the people involved. The Minister has led reform in the area of family law over many years and has been very much aware of the need to ensure appeals are dealt with in an expeditious manner.

I welcome the proposed changes in the court system. The limits in the Circuit Court are being changed and this means the volume of work going to the High Court will reduce. This was dealt with in previous legislation over the past few months. I welcome this legislation and will support the referendum. I agree with colleagues that it is important we provide the correct information to the people that this is not about reducing the powers or the role of the courts, but about making the system more efficient and ensuring everyone who feels entitled to take a case has access to the courts in a timely manner.

I apologise, but I would like to raise the issue of the taxation of costs. I know the Minister cannot deal with this issue today, but it is an area with which we need to deal. I received a letter in the past few days from someone who has been waiting for a decision on the taxation of costs for over three years. In this legislation we are dealing with the development of a new system to get rid of backlogs, so let us not create backlogs in other areas. Taxation of costs is an issue that must be dealt with and perhaps I can talk to the Minister after this debate about it.