The Courts Service is planning an online system for debt cases, and is currently reviewing legislation and the rules required to facilitate digital debt collection.

The online system will be rolled out from Q1 next year and is being managed by the civil law reform team at the Courts Service, as part of the 2022 modernisation programme.

Preparation is also underway for the commencement of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act shortly, which establishes a modern legal framework to support decision-making by adults who might have difficulty doing so without help.

This includes those with:

• Intellectual disability,
• Psychiatric illness,
• Acquired brain injury,
• Age-related condition, such as dementia.

The act will introduce three different types of support arrangements, and court applications will be made through nine designated Circuit Court offices, in Dublin, Cork, Bray, Dundalk, Mullingar, Letterkenny, Waterford, Limerick and Castlebar.

Following the commencement of the act, court applications will be made through the Circuit Court with limited exceptions.

The act makes a presumption of capacity, unless the court declares otherwise. This ensures that every case is treated individually, and that certain cohorts of people are not automatically deemed to lack capacity.

Online appointment tool 

An online appointments system was also piloted in the Central Office of the High Court, Dolphin House and Limerick Court Office, and 14,506 appointments were handled using the digital tool.

Both the High Court Central Office and Dolphin House reported a significant reduction on waiting times as a result.

The project has now been given the green light for further rollout to other offices.