Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 123: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will outline the way in which court judgements District, Circuit, Central Criminal, High Court, Family Law District and Circuit, CCA and Supreme Court, including sentencing and all other determinations are communicated to the public; if it is envisaged that a database covering all judgements will be established in the spirit of greater transparency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24669/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service. The delivery of judgments following completion of a court hearing is a matter for the judiciary who are independent in the exercise of their judicial functions, subject only to the Constitution and the law. However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the Courts Service has informed me that all written reserved judgments made available by judges of the Supreme Court, High Court and Court of Criminal Appeal are published on their website www.courts.ie. In general, Circuit and District Court judges do not deliver written judgments. However, if a Circuit Court judge gives a written reserved judgment this is also published on the Courts Service website. In relation to judgments against a debtor, the Courts Service has indicated that the primary source of judgment information is the Judgments Register maintained by the High Court and this Register is open for inspection on payment of the appropriate fee. There is no provision in law for a public register of judgments in debt cases brought before the Circuit or District courts.

The Deputy may be aware of the Irish Sentencing Information System or "ISIS" which is a publicly accessible resource designed by the judiciary to gather information about the range of sentences and other penalties that have been imposed for particular types of offences across court jurisdictions. I consider this website has the potential in time to be a valuable tool not only members of the judiciary but also for lawyers, researchers and those of us concerned with the needs of victims and their families. I understand that it is proposed to continue to develop this website subject to available resources and that it will be evaluated after it has been operating for some time.