A referendum in the autumn to allow the setting up of a Court of Appeal via an amendment to Article 34 of the Constitution has been approved.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter TD announced that the Government approved the plan on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Minister said the need for this arose mainly from a "significant" backlog of cases at the Supreme Court, "and the consequent long delays in cases being dealt with" there.

“The average delay for new non-priority cases is now of the order of four years,” the statement added. “Earlier this year, the Chief Justice [Susan Denham] announced her decision not to accept any new priority cases, given that there were already over 70 cases on the priority list.”

Necessary legislation

The Minister said work would proceed with preparing the necessary legislation, adding the Government would consult interested parties about this in coming months.

“I intend to publish the proposed constitutional amendments as early as possible in order to give people time to reflect on what is proposed and to allow for a rational and considered debate.”

The move is designed to free the Supreme Court from the need to deal with routine interlocutory orders and other matters, thus reducing its workload and allowing it to focus on development of the law.

The model for the new Court of Appeal is largely drawn from the seminal Report of the Working Group on a Court of Appeal which was published in 2009.