Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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1603. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the current number of judicial vacancies; her proposals to ensure that the judiciary is appropriately staffed in a sustainable manner; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20132/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I can assure the Deputy that the Government endeavours to fill judicial vacancies at the earliest opportunity.

I have been advised that the current number of judicial vacancies is eight and is broken down as follows: one Supreme Court, one High Court, one Circuit Court and five District Court. It is current practice to maintain one open vacancy in the Supreme Court as the court is disposing of its caseload effectively. The arrangement is kept under regular review by the Department and the Chief Justice.

On 1 January 2025, the Judicial Appointments Commission Act 2023 came into operation in its entirety. The Act established a new, independent Judicial Appointments Commission to select and recommend persons for all judicial offices in Ireland and in the EU and international courts.

The Judicial Appointments Commission is currently running competitions to fill the vacancies in the District, Circuit and High Court. A competition to fill the five current vacancies, as well as two anticipated vacancies, in the District Court was advertised between 13 March and 10 April, with the selection process ongoing. A competition to fill the High Court vacancy has been advertised with the closing date for applications set for 1 May. A competition to fill the vacancy in the Circuit Court is due to be advertised shortly.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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1604. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will provide an update on the implementation of the recommendations of the Judicial Planning Working Group Report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20133/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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Following the publication in February 2023 of the Report of the Judicial Planning Working Group (JPWG), the previous Government committed to an historic increase in judicial numbers to improve access to justice. The report recommended appointing 44 additional judges in two phases across the Court of Appeal, High, Circuit, and District Courts.

A first phase of 24 additional judges was approved and appointed throughout 2023. Specifically, this comprised eight extra judges for the District Court, eight for the Circuit Court, six for the High Court and two for the Court of Appeal.

Following an impact assessment of the first phase of appointments on court business, Government approval was secured, on 22 October 2024, for the implementation of the recommended second phase of another 20 extra judges (two for the Court of Appeal and six each for the High, Circuit and District Courts).

As outlined in the current Programme for Government, this Government is committed to continue this work in order to meet the growing demands on the justice system and ensure timely access to justice. Later this year, I plan to introduce legislation to increase the number of judges by 20 in line with JPWG recommendations. This will see a further six judges appointed to each the District, Circuit and High Courts and two additional judges in the Court of Appeal.

Work is also progressing on the implementation of the other recommendations of the Working Group’s report. A cross-organisational Implementation Steering Group was established in June 2023 to monitor and coordinate the implementation process. It includes representatives from the Department of Justice, the Courts Service, the Judicial Council and other stakeholders as well as a number of judicial observers. The Steering Group met three times each in 2023 and 2024 and once so far in 2025 with the next meeting scheduled for early May.

Implementation plans are owned and regularly updated by the bodies responsible for the implementation of the report’s recommendations. Progress already made to implement the recommendations was noted by Government in February and October 2024. In addition to the appointment of the first phase of 24 additional judges, some important deliverables so far include the running of a pilot to stagger the long court vacation in the High Court last summer; the publication of long-term strategies for all court jurisdictions by the Court Presidents and the development of proposals to enhance the powers of Court Presidents and the roles of quasi-judicial office holders so that court business can be carried out more efficiently.