Paperless hearings in commercial cases have been piloted. The Personal Insolvency list of the High Court is now largely paperless. The first paperless case heard through the Irish language took place in 2019.
Although there was a slight decrease in personal injuries claims, there was a 75% increase in the value of medical negligence awards as a result of the number of major catastrophic injury cases being dealt with last year.
There 37% decrease in possession orders made last year and 28% decrease in new possession cases lodged, reflecting the strong economic conditions of 2019.
The number of registered judgments for debt decreased by 27% from 2,673 in 2018, to 1953 in 2019.
Bankrupt
The numbers petitioned to be made bankrupt dropped by 40% to 230 – down from 382.
There was a decrease of 15% in Chancery matters lodged in the area of contracts, intestacies and trust actions.
A total of 385 people were made Wards of Court last year:
- 45 because of brain injury,
- 218 due to dementia or age-related illness,
- 53 due to a learning or intellectual disability,
- 21 because they were a minor,
- 48 due to psychiatric illness.
A full €2 billion in court funds was managed on behalf of minors and wards of court.
Meanwhile, there was an increase of 35% in applications for Enduring Power of Attorney – for cases where individuals are no longer capable of decision-making in relation to their own care.
Employment cases (other than dismissal claims), saw a doubling of new cases lodged last year, from 50 up to 113.
Small claims
And there was a one third increase in new small claims to 4,267 from 3,476.
The numbers of Habeas Corpus cases – where people tested the legality of their detention, dropped by 25% from 97 to 73.
The District Court dealt with:
- 226,000 road traffic offences,
- 33,000 drugs matters,
- 3,600 sexual offences,
- 37,500 larceny/robbery/ fraud matters,
- 46,000 public order/assaults.
In total, the District Court received over 406,000 new offences last year involving 241,000 people.
These included:
- 144,485 civil matters (including 12,582 guardianship, 8,383 maintenance, 20,501 domestic violence, 10,224 child care),
- 406,480 criminal matters.
And 18,500 more serious offences were sent to the Circuit, Central and Special criminal courts. A total of 154 sentences were given in rape cases, of which:
- 36% (55) were of 5-10 years’ duration,
- 63% (97) were over ten years,
- no sentence was under two years, and only two (1.3%) were between two and five years.
A total of 4,073 new divorce applications were received, with 1,806 lodged by men and 2,267 lodged by women.
There was a 10% overall increase in domestic violence applications (20,500) – with a 30% increase in interim barring order applications (1,643).
There was a decrease of 22% in the number of applications for protection or supervision orders in the childcare area, down from 13,200 to 10,300.
The courts are finalising 38% more childcare applications than in 2016 (9,600 up from 6,950), facilitated by more courts, efficiencies, and space provided.
The Supreme Court saw a 10% increase in applications for leave to appeal, with a move to a new online application system.
The Supreme Court increased the numbers of applications dealt with by 56%, while delivering 131 reserved judgments – an increase of 30%.
Waiting times in the Supreme Court are at four weeks for a decision on leave to appeal, and 55 weeks for cases to go to full hearing.
The Court of Appeal, meanwhile, saw an increase of 8% in new appeals up to 499.
The waiting times for appeals is 22 months – (down from five years before the court was established).
449 appeals
The Court heard 449 appeals last year with a full 29% of its appeals taken by lay litigants.
The annual report notes that the increase in Court of Appeal size, from 10 judges to 16 in the autumn of 2019, has already had a positive impact on waiting times.
The centralisation of services in relation to the service of foreign court documents, and the issuing of jury summonses, in Castlebar, Co Mayo.
Jury summonses
The Jury Summons Unit (JSU) has also freed up staff in local offices for other duties
The Courts Service Castlebar office issued 120,000 jury summonses.
In the new dedicated office, documents are being processed three times faster than previously.
The High Court last year issued 947 written judgments and in 1,292 cases, costs were adjudicated and taxed.
There were significant staff changes in the High Court and an unprecedented number of new High Court Registrars were appointed.
The total Courts Service budget was €140 million last year, with 64% raised from the exchequer and 34% raised through user fees.
Net cost
The total net cost to the state of running the courts across the country is €93 million.
The Courts Service collected €10.4 million in fines last year and €44 million in fees for the exchequer in 2019.
And €1.7 million in poor box payments was administered last year.
A project to create Child Distraction Areas in the family court in Dolphin House in Dublin was awarded €10,000 funding from the Public Service Innovation Awards.