Shay Brennan (Dublin Rathdown, Fianna Fail)
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883. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if waiting times in family court will be reduced by recruiting more administrators or judges to address this issue. [48318/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The Family Courts Act 2024 is a key component of my Department's Family Justice Strategy and contains a number of provisions designed to make the family court process more user-friendly and less costly.

The Act provides for the establishment of family court divisions within the existing court structures, namely a Family High Court, a Family Circuit Court and a Family District Court, each dealing with family law matters as appropriate to its jurisdiction. Each of these Family Courts will have judges with appropriate specialist knowledge assigned to them on a full-time basis, and the Act also provides for ongoing professional training in the area of family law.

Commencing the Family Courts Act 2024 is a priority for Government and an implementation team has been established within my Department. As committed to in the Programme for Government, I intend to publish an implementation plan for a new Family Court System by the end of January 2026.

As Minister, it is my priority to ensure that the courts are adequately resourced to administer justice efficiently and effectively. In 2023, the Government appointed an additional 24 judges as proposed by the Judicial Planning Working Group.

Following an impact assessment of the first phase of judicial appointments following the publication of the Judicial Planning Working Group Report, Government approval was secured, on 22 October 2024, to increase judicial numbers by a further 20 judges to meet the growing demands on the justice system and to further reduce long waiting times across the courts. This would involve two additional judges 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 putting these extra 20 judges in place within 12 months.

Taken together, these two sets of appointments represent an increase of approximately 25% in the number of Judges in Ireland.