Delays in bringing criminal cases to trial, the treatment of witnesses and the courts in which proceedings take place have been identified as major deficiencies in the criminal justice system by an Oireachtas committee report.
One member of the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights today said the Four Courts were an unsuitable venue for criminal trials.
Committee chairman, Fianna Fáil's Mr Sean Ardagh, said the report was intended to address "the abuses of the criminal justice system by a small minority of our society who appear determined to thwart the integrity of the policing, courts and legal system".
The report said witnesses were central to the system and therefore improved measures should be put in place to protect them from intimidation as soon as the investigative process begins.
Video-taping witnesses as means of addressing the problem was encouraged by the committee which also recommended that out-of-court statements should be admissible as evidence in the case of hostile witnesses.
A scheme in which liaison officers work with witnesses, victims and their families was also recommended.
The courts in which hearings take place were also a source of intimidation; with the accused, victims and witnesses all mingling together, the report found.
Labour Party committee member, Mr Joe Costello said trials held in Dublin involving people from outside the capital in some cases led to witnesses and the accused travelling on the same trains.
He said the Four Courts, as the building is currently configured, was unsuitable for criminal trials and some family law cases. "What's needed is a dedicated building with separate rooms and corridors and egress and access points so that the various protagonists would not meet," Mr Costello said.
Courtroom facilities were also criticised for not having video-links which often led to delays in hearings.
Delays in bringing cases to trial was also identified as "one of the most problematic aspects of the criminal justice system". The committee heard that in one instance it took five years for a murder case to come to trial.
This issue also applied to witness intimidation, Mr Ardagh said. "For a witness who is intimidated to have to spend two years with the threat of intimidation over their heads is not acceptable and it certainly puts people who are in that situation where they are liable to suffer psychological problems".
The committee recommended that more judges and support staff be appointed to address the backlog of cases.
Fine Gael's Mr Jim O'Keeffe said that while the focus of improving the criminal justice system tends towards legislative change, much work needed to be done to bring the "the administration of justice in to the 21 stcentury". "Perhaps it's less law and more order that's needed," he said.