Courts Service running costs slashed by more than half in nine years

The Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Susan Denham, presented the annual report to Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan at an event in Dublin today.

The report also noted that running costs were down 52 per cent on 2008, with €5.5 million in savings attributed to new technology.

Running costs have been reduced through a “combination of reduced funding and an increase in fees generated”, the Courts Service said.

It also added that it would continue to “support the judiciary to introduce efficiencies in the administration of justice”.

Ireland’s courts received almost 750,000 new matters last year, with sharp changes in some areas. There was a 15 per cent increase in personal injury cases, a 42 per cent decrease in possession cases, a 125 per cent increase over two years in debt resolution cases, and a 48 per cent increase in trials heard in the central Criminal Court.

The Supreme Court, which experienced a 60 per cent increase in new applications for leave to appeal, determined new applications in an average of 18 days, and full case appeals within six months.

The “vast majority” of legacy appeals from the old Supreme Court regime had been dealt with by the end of 2016.

New, more efficient practices were established in the Court of Appeal and the Service the second Special Criminal Court, realising a reduction in waiting times from two years to 15 months.

In the High Court, staff efforts have helped the judiciary to maintain waiting times as low as six weeks for most areas of work from the time cases are ready for hearing to a date for hearing being available.

In the Central Criminal Court, waiting times have been reduced to 11 months following the allocation of extra resources by the President of the High Court and the Chief Executive of the Courts Service.

In 2016, a total of 516,000 new matters were received in the District Court (134,000 civil and 382,000 criminal).