Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 176: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his views on the situation in which the waiting time to get a full care order from the Family Court currently extends until April 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2751/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The management and administration of the courts, as the Deputy will be aware, is a matter for the Courts Service. The allocation of the business of the courts, scheduling of court cases and the management of court lists are matters for the judiciary and in particular the Presidents of the courts. The Deputy will also be aware that judges are, subject to the Constitution and the law, independent in the exercise of their judicial functions.

However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the Courts Service has informed me that all court cases are listed in such a way as to make optimum use of court time. The dates assigned to care order hearings depend on the anticipated duration of the case. Cases which are likely to require a longer hearing period are more difficult to accommodate in court lists and so later dates are assigned.

The Courts Service has stated that waiting times for hearing full care order applications vary and is dependent on the volume of cases before the court and the demand for such orders in an area. The Service has also informed me that it is not aware of a delay in the hearing of such applications of the level referred to by the Deputy. The Dublin Family Law Court is the only full-time Family Court and deals with the largest volume of full care order applications and the latest date to which the hearing of a full care order application has been assigned is currently 5 November 2012. The average waiting time (i.e., from the date the court is asked to set the case down for hearing) is 34 weeks but it has been possible to schedule cases of shorter duration within approximately 21 weeks.

While the Deputy's question relates to full care orders, it is important to mention that applications for Emergency Care Orders are heard either on the day of application or the following day. Furthermore, I am informed that where the parties to a case feel that there has been an undue delay in arranging the hearing of their case they should contact their local Family Law Office to establish whether an earlier date would be possible. As such proceedings take place in camera it is only open to the parties or their legal representatives to make such enquiries.