The legal system is not working and is "simply unjust" in how it operates, the Attorney General has said.
Speaking in a personal capacity at the 21st anniversary conference of the Legal Aid Board in Tralee on Saturday, Mr Michael McDowell called on the legal establishment to reform itself and described its failure to do so as a "moral blot".
While asserting that he did not wish to be "unduly controversial", Mr McDowell also said that Irish lawyers were "too trigger-happy" in opting for litigation. If it was time for a forum on Europe, it might also be time for a forum on the legal and justice system.
He criticised delays in having cases heard, the complexity of civil procedures and the obstacles which prevented people from having litigation resolved within a reasonable time.
Reform, he said, should come from the legal profession collectively: from barristers, judges, solicitors, those in the Courts Service and all who worked at the "coal face" of the legal system. These were the people who best understood that the present system was leading to injustice.
Reforms could not be expected to come from politicians and it was not the responsibility of the Department of Justice to take a lead. It was the legal world which "owed a duty to society" and was best equipped to carry out a review.
Every victim of crime was entitled to have his or her case heard within a relatively short time, he said. "I don't see why it should be that 18 months should elapse between burglaries and conviction before a jury. I don't see why some people are now being remanded in the Central Criminal Court for periods of up to a year in custody. I don't see how that's right."
Irish lawyers were "a bit too trigger-happy", Mr McDowell said. He advocated a closer look at alternative forms of dispute resolution along the lines of procedures adopted in countries such as Australia and Canada.
Availability of judges in the Four Courts was a serious problem, according to the Attorney General. After 11.30 a.m., he said, it was sometimes difficult to find a judge. There was a need for better case management and for putting an end to "trial by ambush", whereby cases finished within 10 minutes of entering court.
Judge Peter Smithwick said that if the Attorney General wished to visit Dolphin House he would find judges sitting there until 7 p.m.