Radical reform of courts envisaged by working group

A comprehensive reform of the courts system is to be initiated by a new working group announced by the Courts Service Board (CSB) today.

The group will investigate whether the structure of the courts system delivers justice efficiently and economically. This is the first major review of the courts system since it was established in 1924.

The group will be chaired by Supreme Court judge Mr Justice Niall Fennelly and will be made up of representatives from other interested bodies.

I am anxious that this working group be seen as the start of a process, which will fundamentally reform the courts system in Ireland Mr Justice Ronan Keane

The courts system is said to be struggling with an ever-expanding case load. Last year over 600,000 cases were brought before the system.

The working group will look at ways of reducing lengthy delays in waiting for cases to come to trial, not just from the perspective of the accused who may be in custody for a long time before trial but also for the victim who needs closure of the judicial process.

The reform could see fundamental changes in the jurisdictions of the Circuit Court and the Central Criminal Court.

It will also examine the role of the Court of Criminal Appeal, which some in the profession feel has no rational justification.

Speaking at the launch this morning, Chief Justice and CSB Chairman Mr Justice Ronan Keane said: "I am anxious that this working group be seen as the start of a process, which will fundamentally reform the courts system in Ireland".

Justice Keane said the present system was inefficient, where scarce resources were not best used.

He said judges and staff were expected to work long hours and keep up with an increasing case load and that the public was being asked to wait long periods for certain types of cases to be heard.

Justice Keane said the working group was "an opportunity to redesign our courts structures for the 21st century".

The Labour Party spokesman on Justice, Mr Brendan Howlin, said: "The courts system we have today is still largely modeled on the system we inherited from the British at the time of independence and there is plenty of scope for reform."

Mr Howlin said: "Certainly the long delays in bringing serious cases to trial, highlighted by the case this week in which two Limerick men were convicted of a murder committed over four years ago, are neither acceptable to the persons charged or to the victims of crime."