Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and fully support the Bill. As has been said, this is the will of the Irish people. On 4 October 2013, 65% of them voted in favour of the establishment of the Court of Appeal, for which the Bill would provide. Many of the provisions of the Bill, as the Minister said, are based on the Report of the Working Group on a Court of Appeal, published in 2009 and chaired by the now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Mrs. Justice Susan Denham. I thank her for the work she has done.

There is a need for the Court of Appeal. Unlike in other law jurisdictions, the Irish Supreme Court is the court of final appeal in all appeals from the lower courts. In 2012, the Supreme Court received 605 appeals, a 21% increase on the previous year. According to Mrs. Justice Denham, the Irish Supreme Court is one of the busiest of its kind in the world. In 2012, it issued 114 judgments, up 56% from the previous year. It is a questionable load compared with the US and UK Supreme Courts, which in the same year made 64 and 85 judgments, respectively. There is a four year systematic backlog of cases at the Supreme Court which, according to the Report of the Working Group on a Court of Appeal 2009, would continue to build in the absence of action.

The establishment of a Court of Appeal will represent a major reform and streamline our court system, bringing Ireland more in line with Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Sitting between the High Court and Supreme Court in the courts structure hierarchy with civil and criminal jurisdiction, it will retain a right of appeal to the Supreme Court, in line with well-defined constitutional standards. It will help reduce the backlog of cases by removing from the Supreme Court's remit cases that are not appeals on constitutional issues or of major importance. This will make the Supreme Court more of a constitutional court in its truest sense. An efficient and effective court system will help make Ireland more attractive to investors and multinationals, which will benefit the economy. It is also extremely important to a healthy and progressive democratic society.

I welcome the Bill and congratulate the Minister on progressing it. We had the referendum in October 2013 and it will be in place within a year. The only sad note I have is on the children's referendum in November 2012. There were reports issued today on children in the care of the State. When the provisions of the children's referendum are in place it will mean all children will get the same protection from the State and children will be eligible for adoption. As each day passes, those rights are being expunged. While I appreciate that it is being challenged and is before the Supreme Court, time is passing for these children and we are failing them. I hope, by establishing the court of appeal, we will release some backlog and allow a decision on the children's referendum, which was voted by 58% of the people. While the court of criminal appeal will be in place within a year of the referendum, we continue to fail to implement the children's referendum.