Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the Minister. There is no doubt that the Bill is urgently required. The waiting time for hearings before the Supreme Court is approximately four years. We all agree that the current situation is completely untenable. Until now, there existed an almost automatic right of appeal from the High Court to the Supreme Court in respect of civil matters. Coupled with the albeit much slower pace of criminal appeals, this ensured that the Supreme Court has been more concerned with correcting errors of law as opposed to what it should be doing, namely, setting down policy guidelines and expanding areas of the law that were previously ignored. With 36 High Court judges sitting regularly and the Supreme Court only being in a position to sit in three divisions at most, it has been patently obvious for many years that a backlog would inevitably be created.

As an island nation, we must be careful with regard to our reputation in the context of rectifying disputes under maritime law. At present, it is quite conceivable that an admiralty marshal, the official who formally issues warrants and takes possession of and manages vessels until such time as an admiralty case is decided, could very well be dealing with the same ship for four years or more pending the outcome of any appeal to the Supreme Court. This is a huge disadvantage in terms of our commercial reputation.

I realise that her hands are rather full at present with the much-warranted reform of the criminal justice system but would the Minister consider reviewing the rules of the Superior Courts in order to bring about greater efficiency to case management on the civil side. In addition to the lack of a Court of Appeal, it seems that much of the delay and extra cost relating to litigation stems from cases not being ready, though listed for trial. Cases which are listed and ready are often not heard as a result of the fact that the relevant court is overburdened. It appears that much of this is now avoided by the special rules put in place in respect of matters dealt with by the commercial court. In my view, this could be usefully reviewed at a future date.

It is to the credit of the previous Minister, Deputy Shatter, that he initiated the process relating to introducing the Bill before us in the aftermath of the recent referendum on this issue. I congratulate the current Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, who is on the cusp of steering this vital enabling legislation through both Houses. The Bill is completely practical and long-overdue. I thoroughly support it.