EU urges action on civil-justice reform
Finalising legislative work on civil-justice reform and further efforts to strengthen the framework on ethics are among the recommendations made to Ireland by a European Commission report on the justice system.
The recommendations come in the commission’s seventh annual Rule of Law Report, which examines rule-of-law developments in all EU member states.
It notes that the General Scheme of the Civil Reform Bill contains “several key reforms” but is yet to be adopted.
The EU also refers to stakeholders’ concerns about under-resourcing of the current civil legal-aid scheme, adding that the Department of Justice is preparing reforms.
‘Strengthen SIPO’ call
It notes the Government’s introduction of the flat-fee payments scheme, which has sparked protests from solicitors, as a measure “intended to make the criminal legal-aid scheme more efficient”.
The report acknowledges “limited further progress” in strengthening the existing ethics framework but urges further action – including boosting the monitoring and enforcement capacity of the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) and digitalising the asset-declarations system.
“Challenges in staffing levels remain for investigation and prosecution of corruption offences,” it states, while also acknowledging a perception among citizens and companies that the level of corruption is “relatively low”.
Concerns on justice data
The report expresses concerns remain about the length of court proceedings and the quality of data on the overall efficiency of justice, but it notes that the Courts Service is pursuing initiatives to improve data availability.
“There is still no system to regularly evaluate court performance based on defined indicators, and the duration of court proceedings is not being systematically recorded, which does not allow the assessment of the efficiency of the justice system in a comparative way,” it states.
The report adds that the Law Society’s Justice Indicators report has supported the view that a more comprehensive set of data is necessary to improve the efficiency of the justice system.
High level of trust
It describes the level of perceived judicial independence in Ireland as “very high” among the public and companies, citing figures showing that 75% of the general population and 78% of firms perceive the level of independence of courts and judges to be ‘fairly or very good’.
The report also notes that Ireland remains the EU member state with the lowest number of judges per capita, although recruitment of new judges is continuing.
It adds, however, that “concerns persist” about the adequacy of existing safeguards for the employment conditions of the judiciary.
The EU says that Ireland has fully implemented its recommendation to finalise the reform of the Defamation Act, after new legislation was signed into law this year, introducing safeguards that counter strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs).
The report says that civil-society organisations continue to report challenges in several member states, including limitations to funding and peaceful assembly.
‘Important reforms’ underway
Justice commissioner Michael McGrath said that the report confirmed “a broadly positive trajectory” across the EU, with important reforms completed or underway in member states.
He added, however, that the picture remained “uneven”, with “some challenges persisting” in places.
The commissioner also told reporters that the the EU body would present a series of anti-corruption initiatives in the coming months to further strengthen the rule of law.