Government likely to agree to more Court of Appeal judges

The court, which began hearing cases just over a year ago, receives an average of 60 new civil appeals every month on top of a backlog of cases referred by the Supreme Court.

It inherited 660 cases from the former Court of Criminal Appeal on its creation and took on 287 new appeals up to July 2014. It has so far disposed of 280 criminal appeals and 468 civil appeals.

The Government has now been asked to agree to the appointment of four further judges in order to facilitate a second court which would exclusively hear civil appeals in order to reduce waiting times.

A spokesperson for Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald told the Irish Independent that the request for additional judges is “under consideration”, and drew attention to the Government’s existing commitment to appointing two new High Court judges.

The new €3 million Court of Appeal building, based in the former public records building of Dublin’s Four Courts, was formally opened byPresident Michael D Higgins at a private event yesterday.

President Higgins said: “It is in society’s interest that we take seriously the legal maxim ‘justice delayed is justice denied’.

“Our citizens are best served when appeal cases are dealt with expeditiously, fairly and timely.”

Mr Justice Sean Ryan, president of the Court of Appeal, said the new court and its judges had achieved a remarkable amount in a relatively short time.