Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 164: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the long waiting list for hearing of both District and Circuit Court cases in County Donegal; his views on the appointment of a second District Judge to County Donegal and a second Circuit Court Judge to the Northern Circuit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19177/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The question of extra judicial resources in the Northern Circuit or in the Donegal District is a matter, in the first instance, for consideration by the Presidents of the Circuit and District Courts respectively. I will be guided by the Presidents of the Courts as to the need for additional permanently assigned judges.

The Presidents have at their disposal unassigned judges who can be used to assist the permanently assigned judges where pressure of work demands. As the Deputy will be aware, fourteen additional judges were appointed within the past few weeks. Of these, five are in the Circuit Court and six in the District Court. I am confident that these additional judicial resources will have a significant and positive impact on court delays in Donegal and elsewhere.

The assignment of additional resources to a Circuit or District on a temporary basis is the responsibility of the Presidents of the Circuit and District Courts. In this regard, I understand that plans are in place to provide additional courts in District No. 1 (which covers Donegal) in the period September to Christmas 2007 in an effort to deal with the backlog of cases.

Ninety additional court sittings have already been arranged in Donegal this year by the President of the District Court to deal with the delays and reduce the backlog of cases awaiting hearing. Last year, the President of the Court made arrangements for 112 additional sittings in Donegal, which greatly reduced the backlog that existed then.

The President of the Circuit Court, for his part, has given priority this year to clearing backlogs in all the circuits, including the Northern. In particular, efforts have been made to clear outstanding long trials which cannot be accommodated in the normal court lists. Extra weeks were allocated to clear such trials in Carrick-on-Shannon and Monaghan.