Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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274. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the extent to which the delays in the courts have been resolved or are under resolution; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52039/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is 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. Furthermore, the scheduling of court cases and the allocation of court business is a matter for the Presidents of the Courts and the presiding judges who are, under the Constitution, independent in the exercise of their judicial functions.

However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the Courts Service has informed me that the position regarding the waiting times for the various courts is as follows:

Supreme Court

Under the direction of the then Chief Justice, by the end of 2016, the Supreme Court had almost entirely disposed of its retained legacy appeals. At its peak the total backlog amounted to almost 3,000 appeals with consequential waiting times up to four and a half years in some cases. The current position in relation to the new jurisdiction appeals in the Supreme Court is as follows:

- Average waiting time for applications for leave to appeal from filing of complete documentation to determination - 6 weeks, and

- Average waiting time for appeals from determination of leave application to appeal hearing - 54 weeks.

Court of Appeal

Following the establishment of the Court of Appeal on 28 October 2014 the waiting times for appeals reduced significantly and the waiting times at 30 November 2017 were as follows:

(a) Civil Appeals

- Fast tracked short appeals (requiring less that 2 hours) - 12 months subject to the case being included in the "short cases" list and with the possibility of an earlier date, and

- other appeals (requiring more than 2 hours) - the waiting time for these appeals is 18 months.

Urgent appeals such as Hague Convention/child abduction and refugee asylum cases continue to be accommodated having regard to the degree of urgency demonstrated. Also civil appeals which have a custody and/or criminal element are now case-managed in the Criminal Courts of Justice by the panel of 4 judges assigned to deal with the criminal appeal list thus ensuring the degree of priority necessary for hearing of such appeals. As a result waiting times for these cases are as follows:

- Article 40/habeas corpus appeals and bail appeals are usually heard in one month or less;

- European Arrest Warrant cases and Judicial Review cases are heard within the current legal term provided the necessary papers are in order.

(b) Criminal Appeals

Criminal Appeals have a waiting time of 6 months. This is significantly better than the 18 month waiting time in the Court of Criminal Appeal prior to the establishment of the Court of Appeal. Hearing dates can now be allocated during the subsequent legal term to the majority of cases included in the List to Fix Dates (held once a term). An occasional case which requires a full day or in excess of a day, or a case where for various reasons a date during a specific week/month is requested by the parties and which the court simply cannot accommodate due to the availability of court time, will be allocated a date during the subsequent term.  

Criminal appeals (and civil appeals for hearing in the Criminal Courts of Justice) are actively managed on a weekly basis by the Judge assigned to management of the criminal lists to ensure cases are dealt with as efficiently as possible and delays in moving cases to the List to Fix Dates due to procedural issues arising are kept to a minimum. Applications for priority may be made at the weekly management list.

Arrangements have been made to identify suitable legacy appeals for transfer back to the Supreme Court for hearing, subject to the necessary application being made by a party to the appeal under Article 64 of the Constitution. This recent initiative, agreed between the Chief Justice and the President of the Court of Appeal, has seen a first tranche of 60 legacy appeals (transferred from the Supreme Court) identified for transfer back to the Supreme Court with a view to an early hearing date in that court.  As of 5 December 2017 20 of these appeals have been transferred back to the Supreme Court and, of these, 9 appeals are listed for hearing this week and next week in the Supreme Court with the remainder scheduled for hearing in February 2018.

Special Criminal Court

The waiting time for a hearing date in the Special Criminal Courts is now 12 months following the establishment of the Second Special Criminal Court on 6 May 2016. This compares with up to 24 months prior to the establishment of the Second Special Criminal Court.

High Court

Since 19 October 2017, when High Court waiting times were last advised to the Deputy, a further analysis shows waiting times generally maintained across all court lists and venues. A significant development has been the reduction in the waiting times for Asylum pre-leave actions from 7 months to 1 week as a result of new case management measures. The Chancery, Commercial and Family Law Lists each offer hearing dates in the first legal term of 2018. The only High Court category showing increased waiting times over this period are non-jury actions, including Circuit Court appeals, which have extended from 9 months to 11 months.

Central Criminal Court

The current waiting time in the Central Criminal Court is 12 months. Prior to securing a fifth Judge in October 2015, the waiting times had extended to 18 months.

Circuit Court and District Court

Circuit and District Courts are courts of local jurisdiction and waiting times vary from venue to venue based on the number, complexity and scheduling of cases. The data provided in the Courts Service Annual Reports indicates that waiting times are being maintained or reduced across most venues and the categories of cases.  

The Courts Service has also informed me that the Presidents of the various courts work together with the Courts Service to achieve improvements in waiting times and continue to arrange additional sittings where possible within the resources available to them to deal with any delays in the hearing of cases and to target judicial resources at the areas of greatest need.

The Courts Service has advised that delays in the hearing of cases can occur for a number of reasons, many of which are outside the control of the Courts and the Courts Service, for example, the unavailability of a witness or vital evidence, delays in the furnishing of reports or because the parties and/or legal practitioners are not ready to proceed on allocated dates. This gives rise to adjournments which can have a major impact on the time taken to complete the hearing of a case and on the number of cases which can be disposed of in a court sitting.

As the Deputy is aware, a Group to review the administration of civil justice in the State, chaired by the President of the High Court Mr. Justice Peter Kelly, was established recently. The first meeting of the Group was held on 9 November 2017 and call for submissions to the Group has been advertised with a deadline of 16 February 2018.  

The Group is to report to me within two years, and will make recommendations for changes with a view to improving access to civil justice in the State, promoting early resolution of disputes, reducing the cost of litigation, creating a more responsive and proportionate system and ensuring better outcomes for court users.