Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I draw the attention of the Leader to justice, which is hugely important to all of us, specifically District Court area 25, County Kildare. In this District Court we have twice the number of cases that are in many other jurisdictions, so we have a situation where cases dealing with important matters such as child custody, access and maintenance are not being heard. I know of a particular situation where 15 months after a child has been born a dad is still waiting for a court case to make sure he has access. That is completely wrong. There is an urgent need for another judge to be appointed to District Court area 25. I ask that the Leader would take that on board to ensure we can deal with the serious consequences that are evident in terms of the impact on the service users.