Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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48. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she has had discussions in respect of vacancies and backlogs in the Court of Appeal in the context of the programme for Government; and if the Government has plans to address delays in the administration of justice here, particularly in the Court of Appeal. [33528/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that the scheduling of court cases and the allocation of court business is a matter for the respective Presidents of the courts and the presiding judge who are, under the Constitution, independent in the exercise of their judicial functions. The Presidents monitor waiting times across all court lists and seek to ensure the optimum use of court time. Available resources and operational and organisational structures in the Courts Service are kept under ongoing review to ensure that resources are targeted and every effort is made to ensure waiting times are kept to a minimum.

In regard to the Court of Appeal, I am informed that the current waiting time for criminal appeals is between 4 and 5 months from lodgement of the written submissions of the appellant compared to 15 months waiting time in the Court of Criminal Appeal prior to the establishment of the Court of Appeal. The current waiting time for civil appeals is 15 - 17 months compared with a delay of up to 48 months in the Supreme Court in late 2014.

The President of the Court of Appeal initiated a more focussed and time-efficient case-management approach to new civil appeals in October this year so that the issues to be decided on appeal are clearly identified in an effort to alleviate pressures on waiting times.

There are currently no vacancies in the Court of Appeal. The matter of resources in the Court of Appeal, taking into account its current workload including the substantial inherited backlog and bearing in mind resources across the courts, is currently being examined.