Court hearings put back to next year

Seamus Enright

Criminal court hearings for contested cases are already being scheduled to early 2018 as the backlog in the system continues to grow.

Contested cases are now being pushed back to January and February 2018, as Friday hearing days begin to fill up.
It comes following representations made at national level for further resources to be assigned locally to cope with hearing day delays.
To a parliamentary question tabled before the Minister for Justice and Equality earlier this year, Deputy Niamh Smyth (FF) was told the scheduling of court business are matters for the President of the District Court and the presiding judge. “The Courts Service has advised that delays in the hearing of cases can occur for reasons outside the direct control of the courts and the Courts Service and give rise to the adjournments which can have a major impact on the time taken to complete the hearing of a case and on the number of cases which can be disposed of in a court sitting.”
The minister added that the President of the District Court and presiding judges continually monitor waiting times and workload, and work with the Courts Service to target resources at areas with highest needs. “In this regard, a total of 44 special sittings of Cavan District Court were supported in 2016 and there have been 10 special sittings of the district court to date in 2017. The district court also sits in Virginia, Co Cavan and in 2015 and 2016 there were a total of 84 sittings of the district court in Virginia and 17 special sittings of that court were also supported.”