Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to address delays in the Courts Service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54479/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Courts Service that the primary objective in the current economic climate is to maintain the delivery of front line court sittings and, in this context, over the past few years the Service has radically altered the way in which they manage the resources available to them. Measures introduced to date include the creation of multi-jurisdictional court offices (14 such offices have been combined to date); centralisation of processes; review of resource allocation including redeployment to front line services; rationalisation of court venues and offices; standardisation of court procedures; and increased use of technology, including online payments and video link, to support court services.

The Deputy may be aware that last year, following consultation with the Chief Justice, I established a cross agency Working Group to identify and implement efficiency measures with a specific focus on the high volume Circuit and District Courts. The Group, which includes representatives of the judiciary, has recently reported to me on initiatives introduced to date. These include a pre-trial procedure which is operating in the Dublin and the Midland Circuits on a pilot basis from 1 December 2012; increased use of video links between courts and prisons; and the provision of same-day probation reports. The amount of time Gardaí spend waiting in court is also being actively managed and reduced. An Expert Group on Article 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights has also been examining procedural measures with potential to speed up court proceedings and I expect that Group to report to me in the near future.

The Presidents of the various courts are determined to achieve improvements in waiting times and they are working with the Courts Service to target judicial resources at the areas with longest waiting times. It should be noted, for example, that in 2011 there were 674 weeks of Circuit Court sittings in venues outside Dublin. This has increased to 767 weeks in 2012 and the President of the Circuit Court plans to increase capacity to 888 weeks during 2013, a 30% increase over 2011. The additional weeks will be provided across crime, family law and civil matters. The President of the District Court is also concentrating judicial resources in the areas of greatest need.

Waiting times in the High Court have generally reduced considerably. While the waiting time for asylum and pre-leave applications is high, the allocation of more judges and, particularly, more research support for judges has helped to reduce the waiting time for post-leave applications to four months, its lowest level in over two years. Despite significant pressure, the waiting times in all other High Court lists have either remained the same or reduced. The President of the High Court has introduced initiatives such as reorganising sittings of the High Court outside Dublin and arranging for additional court sittings during court recesses to reduce waiting times. In addition, the delegation to court officials of administrative functions previously dealt with by High Court judges has increased judicial availability for trial work.

The Supreme Court, however, continues to experience lengthy waiting times of up to 40 months at present. Although considerable efforts are being made to manage this, the issue of capacity in the Supreme Court can only be fully resolved through the establishment of a Court of Civil Appeal. The Government is committed to the holding of a Constitutional referendum on Article 34 which is necessary to achieve this and work has commenced in my Department in this regard.

Finally, in the context of new work for the courts as a result of the Personal Insolvency Bill, I am introducing amendments to allow for a small new cadre of specialist judges to facilitate the speedy consideration of insolvency applications by the Circuit Court. Rather than incurring additional costs to the Exchequer, the Government has decided that eligibility for these new judgeships will be initially confined to serving County Registrars with the necessary legal qualifications and practice experience. This will have the effect of ensuring that the creation of this new cadre will be largely cost neutral as, if a serving County Registrar is appointed as a Specialist Judge, he or she will not be replaced thus creating the necessary extra judicial resources and maximising the contribution of these existing office holders at very little additional cost.