Chief Justice calls for ‘blueprint’ of courts reform

The Chief Justice of Ireland, Mr Justice Frank Clarke, has spoke of his hope that proposals for reform of the Irish courts could go before the Government before the next budget.

Mr Justice Clarke made the remarks while addressing a seminar at NUI Galway, The Irish Times reports.

The judge, however, stressed that “an improved system requires better ways of using existing resources, but also more resources”.

Among possible improvements he identified — while insisting that there are no “magic bullets” — were judicial training, the number of judges, and delivery of information to judges. He said interested parties should start working together to produce a “high level blueprint”.

Mr Justice Clarke also spoke of his “embarrassment” that cutbacks in Ireland meant that many judges had to travel to Scotland for training.

He told the seminar: “Scotland, a jurisdiction broadly of our own size and with a similar financial clout, had a much more sophisticated system of training than anything we could offer, thus requiring Irish judges to obtain much of their training abroad.”

Yesterday’s seminar was hosted by Charles O’Mahony, head of NUI Galway School of Law, and Professor Siobhán Mullally, director of NUI Galway Irish Centre for Human Rights.