Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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It is a priority for my Department to ensure that the courts are resourced to administer justice efficiently and effectively for citizens in their access to justice. The Government endeavours to fill judicial vacancies at the earliest opportunity, and a number of such vacancies have been filled recently.

The number of judges assigned to each jurisdiction for each year between 2016 to 1 December 2022 is provided in the Table underneath. The numbers provided include the Chief Justice, and the Presidents of the Court of Appeal, the High Court, the Circuit Court and District Court.

Court	31/12/2016	31/12/2017	31/12/2018	31/12/2019	31/12/2020	31/12/2021	01/12/2022
Supreme Court	10	10	10	10	10	10	10
Court of Appeal	10	10	10	16	16+1	16+1	16
High Court	38+2	38+2	38+2	38+2	38+2	43+2	44+1
Circuit Court	38+3	38+3	38+3	38+2	38+2	38+2	38
District Court	64	64	64	64	64	64	64

In the case of additional judges, the Deputy may wish to note that the number of the Court of Appeal judges may be exceeded by one where a Court of Appeal judge is appointed as a member of the Law Reform Commission. This is provided for under the Law Reform Commission Act, 1975, as amended by the Court of Appeal Act, 2014.

In the case of the High Court, under the provisions of the Garda Síochána Act, 2005 and the Courts (No. 2) Act, 1997, the number of High Court judges may be exceeded by one in each instance where a High Court judge is appointed as Chair of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission or as a member of the Law Reform Commission.

Finally, the appointment of Specialist Judges to the Circuit Court is provided for under the Personal Insolvency Act, 2012. At present, there are no specialist judges.