Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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103. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to resource the courts, particularly the Circuit Court, to deal with increased non-summary prosecutions of serious crimes; and the additional resources being provided for this in 2017. [18660/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for a Partnership Government contains a commitment to resource the Courts, particularly the Circuit Court, to deal with increased non-summary prosecutions of serious crimes. As the Deputy is aware, at its meeting of 6 December 2016, the Government decided to reassign, by appointment, three specialist judges of the Circuit Court as ordinary judges of the Circuit Court. These judges filled the three existing vacancies in the Circuit Court at that time and so now there is only one vacancy in the Circuit Court following a recent retirement of a Circuit Court judge.

As the Deputy is also aware, under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service which is independent in exercising its functions. However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the Courts Service has informed me that while there was an increase in the number of prosecutions in the courts of non-summary serious crime offences in 2015, the data for 2016 is currently being compiled and the trends will be carefully examined at that point.

The allocation of judicial resources and the scheduling of court cases is a matter for the Presidents of the courts and the judiciary who are, under the Constitution, independent in the exercise of their judicial functions. The Courts Service continue to work with the Presidents and the judiciary to support the efficient disposal of court cases and to ensure that waiting times are kept to a minimum and, where specific issues are identified, resources are targeted at areas of greatest need.