Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

65. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the date on which the wards of court office will be able to automatically provide statements to the committees of wards of court; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32684/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, the High Court has jurisdiction in wards of court matters and management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service, which is independent in exercising its functions under the Courts Service Act 1998.

However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the Courts Service has informed me that, while the importance of issuing statements to wards of court is fully appreciated, an increased caseload in the Wards of Court Office and staffing constraints has meant that it is necessary to prioritise the allocation of resources available in that office. As a result of increased caseloads a backlog in processing applications for wardship arose but it is expected that the backlog will be cleared by the end of this month as additional resources have been assigned to the Office. This in turn had an impact on the progress that could be made in relation to the automatic provision of statements.

As the Deputy will be aware, currently individual statements in regard to funds held in court on behalf of wards of court are provided on request to the respective committees of the wards of court. The Courts Service has advised that it is working to enable statements to be provided automatically to the committees of wards of court, which will commence by mid September 2017. These statements will be high level reports on the funds in court and their performance and, if more detailed reports are required, they can be made available on request. Significant progress has been made and it is hoped to commence the issuing of the statements on a phased basis this quarter.