GAZETTE
N E W S
Law Society/Bar Council
Submission on the Courts
MIWH
NOVEMBER 1993
On 22 September last, the Law
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Society and the Bar Council made a
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joint submission to the Minister for
Justice on the future funding,
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structure and management of the
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courts service. A summary of the
submission is published below.
Purpose
- The purpose of the submission is to
draw attention to the serious
problems that exist in the courts
service in this country, to heighten
public awareness and to put forward
recommendations for the
improvement and reorganisation of
the management of the courts.
(Section 1)
Vindicating Citizens' Rights
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• Clearly, the effectiveness of the
courts in providing redress to citizens
and in vindicating their rights is
affected and undermined by the
current inadequate resources of the
courts system. It is clear that delay
and inefficiency in the service is
contributing greatly to the cost of
litigation and also imposing a
substantial burden on the commercial
life of the country.
(Section 2)
The Current Shortcomings
• Delays,
in the order of two and a
half to three years before a case
comes to trial, are becoming so acute
that it is not an exaggeration to say
that the system is grinding to a halt.
(Section 4)
• Courthouse accommodation
has
been seriously neglected. In almost
all the courthouses throughout the
country there is serious over-
crowding, inadequate facilities for
the public, judges, barristers and
solicitors, no family law facilities,
no public telephones or any kind or
refreshment facilities and a complete
lack of upkeep and maintenance. In
many of these courthouses sanitary
facilities are primitive and
unhygienic. Over recent years
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Drogheda Courthouse, Co. Louth - a close-
up of the cracks in the wall at the courtroom.
spending on courthouse
accommodation has been seriously
curtailed with the result that
buildings of historical and
architectural importance are
threatened. Solicitors have had to
take mandamus proceedings against
the Minister to have essential work
carried out. The submission suggests
that a minimum of £5m must be
made available for courthouse
accommodation in the Courts' Vote
for 1994 and a programme of
refurbishment implemented over a 5
year period.
(Section 5)
• It is widely accepted that
family law
cases
require special facilities in
order to respect the dignity and
privacy of the individuals involved.
However, such facilities are virtually
non-existent. Delay is also a
problem. The submission
recommends examination of the
establishment of a special family law
court to deal with family cases.
Urgent consideration should be
given to appointing family law
practitioners as judges at both
District Court and Circuit Court
level. All appointees as judges
should receive initial induction
training in family law work and
there should be regular conferences
and seminars for members of the
judiciary to keep them up to date
with modern developments.
(Section 6)
• The Government has spent less that
£ l m (in total) over the past five
years on
information technology
in
the courts service. Modern
information technology systems are
vital to improve efficiency in
administration and to speed up the
handling of the vast amount of
documentation that goes into court
work. Sadly, manual systems are still
in widespread use throughout the
courts service. The Government
must provide the funding for a
modern and efficient information
technology system.
(Section 8)
• Pleading systems
and pre-trial
procedures need to be simplified and
a greater emphasis should be placed
on the submission of written
statements of evidence by the parties
to the case so as to reduce to a
minimum those areas of dispute
which need to be tried on sworn
testimony.
(Section 9)
• One of the worst features of the
present system of litigation is the
inefficiency of the listing system
under which there is no guarantee
that a case will be heard on the day
that it is listed. This results in
substantial additional costs being
incurred by the parties. Part of the
problem is the inadequate number of
judges available to hear cases. More
judges need to be appointed and a
proper appointments system should
be introduced.
(Section 10)
Additional Resources are Essential
• The delays currently being
experienced in the Circuit Court and
the High Court cannot be addressed
simply by a "reallocation of
resources" (as stated by the Minister
in reply to a recent Dail question).
Substantial additional resources -
principally the appointment of
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