The Government has approved the appointment of 24 additional judges this year in line with the recommendations of a top-level report, Minister for Justice Simon Harris will announce at a law conference on Friday.
The potential appointment of another 20 additional judges is, according to Mr Harris, dependent on “measurable progress” in meeting a range of recommended reforms and efficiencies concerning how the courts and judges work.
Those recommendations, to be published on Friday, are understood to include five-day working weeks across all court jurisdictions, longer daily court sittings, shorter vacations, the prioritisation of digitalisation and the development of modern IT systems in the courts.
Backlog of court lists
The “significant investment” involved in approving the additional appointments will, according to the Minister, increase access to justice, support the Government’s prioritisation of the establishment of a new planning and environmental court and dedicated family courts and help clear the backlog across many court lists exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
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His announcement will be made at an access to justice conference in Dublin, organised by a working group of Chief Justice Donal O’Donnell, aimed at encouraging the development of a “model” system of civil legal aid.
The Minister will tell the conference he is committed “to improving access to justice” for all of our citizens.
“I want to ensure that our courts are properly resourced to deliver on Government priorities such as the establishment of a planning and environmental court and new family courts. These will help us speed up the planning process to deliver more homes and ensure that the interests of families are at the centre of our new family courts system.”
The Minister will also focus on the need to “drive the modernisation and digital-first agenda across the entire justice sector. Ensuring we have a modern and efficient courts service is vital to this work, and we will work with the Courts Service and the Judiciary to deliver a number of important commitments.”
The 24 additional judges, plus a possible 20 more by the end of next year, are among the recommendations in the report of the Judicial Planning Working Group.
Out of the 24 additional judges, the District and Circuit Courts will get eight each, bringing their numbers to 72 and 46 respectively; the High Court will get six, increasing its total to 51 and the Court of Appeal will get two, giving it 18. The Supreme Court, which has nine, did not seek additional judges. Its workload has fallen considerably since the Court of Appeal was established in 2014.
The 24 appointments will increase the overall number of judges from 173 to 217. If a further 20 judges are added to the approved 24, the District, Circuit and High Courts will get six each and the Court of Appeal will get two. Because the number of judges for each court is capped by law, legislation will be necessary for the additional appointments.
The group’s report, along with a parallel study by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, will be published on Friday by the Department of Justice. Both involve a detailed examination of the work of judges and the courts.
Efficient courts system
It is understood the group and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development both concluded that Ireland needs a significant increase in the number of judges to ensure an efficient courts system but that data deficits in the courts systems created difficulties in assessing exactly how many more are necessary.
In submissions to the group, presidents of the Court of Appeal, High Court, Circuit Court and District Court are understood to have sought 60 more judges to cope with a rising caseload and to help clear backlogs, particularly in the criminal and family law lists.
The group was established in 2021 by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee to bring a strategic focus to planning the number and type of judges required to ensure the efficient administration of justice over the next five years. Ireland has the lowest ratio of judges in Europe with 3.27 per 100,000 population compared to a European average of 17.6.
