The adage that justice delayed is justice denied is a core tenet of any credible legal system and by this measure Ireland’s courts are failing its citizens.
Court proceedings here take three times longer than the European average of just under 6 months, according to a report from the Law Society, the professional body representing solicitors. While the figure is worrying it is perhaps not that surprising when you consider we have the lowest number of judges per capita of any European country.
Some progress has been made in reducing the caseload of judges in the district and circuit courts, but cases continue to pile up in the higher courts, according to the report.
It is worth noting that many of the figures used in the report are drawn from a pan-European database managed by the Council of Europe and much of the data dates from as far back as 2022.
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It is unlikely to fully reflect the efforts, such as they are, that have been made by this government and its predecessor to reduce the backlog in the courts in recent years. These include a somewhat half-hearted implementation of the recommendations made by the Judicial Planning Working Group (JPWG) that reported in 2023. It called for 44 additional judges of which 24 have been appointed to date. Even less enthusiasm has been displayed for other recommendations such as longer court sittings and more specialist courts.
Likewise, the impact of the Courts Service Strategic Plan 2024–2027 is unlikely to register in the survey . The plan aims to encourage and facilitate the use of technology such as online documentation and remote hearings to speed up the legal process.
It is reasonable on this basis to assume the situation may be somewhat better than the picture painted by the Law Society, but it is still far from satisfactory. The full implementation of the JPWG recommendations and the Courts Service plan should be a matter of urgency.
But it would be optimistic in the extreme to think that will be sufficient to meet the ever-increasing demands on the system and some radical thinking may be required. This is the view in the UK – the country whose legal system most closely mirrors our own – where the government is preparing legislation to limit the use of juries in criminal trials to cases where the potential penalty is a jail term of greater than three years.
The UK legislation comes on foot of a review that concluded that reforms along the lines of those currently being implemented here will not be sufficient to stave of the collapse of the legal system in England and Wales.
Close monitoring of the progress being made in Ireland under the measures now being put in place will be required and further action may well be needed to reduce unacceptable delays.
