Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan said delays in having appeals heard by the Court of Appeal are "not acceptable" and are a result of an insufficient number of judges.

Former High Court president, Nicholas Kearns, is chair of the Personal Injuries Commission which has found that personal injury payouts here are 4.4 times higher than in Britain.

The cabinet also discussed stockpiling medicines, working with wholesalers and buying land near ports and airports to be ready for a no-deal situation.

“Justice delayed is justice denied” is a legal maxim which states that legal redress that is not delivered on time is the same as no redress. 

Supreme Court judge Frank Clarke is to be appointed chief justice after the Cabinet signed off on his nomination in its last meeting before the summer recess.

The justice minister must reconsider retired High Court judge Barry White’s application to resume practising as a criminal barrister, the Court of Appeal ruled yesterday.

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Retired judge Barry White can return to practise as a barrister, the High Court has found.

Twenty-two names were on the criminal legal aid panel when officials examined it which should not have been there, the High Court heard yesterday.

A retired High Court judge who got a €250,000 lump sum payment on retirement two years ago, plus €78,000 pension annually, following 12 years on a judicial salary ranging from €165,000 to €240,000, has said his income is not “adequate” to meet the needs of himself and his family.

An action by retired judge Barry White, who claims he is being prevented from resuming practice as a barrister by an unconstitutional rule, has opened before the High Court.

Retired Central Criminal Court judge, Barry White, says a demand for further disclosure of his financial affairs, in advance of his High Court challenge to a rule preventing him from returning to practice as a barrister, is “an unsavoury fishing exercise”.

Many tributes have been paid to Supreme Court Judge Adrian Hardiman who died suddenly yesterday.

The Coalition’s limited reforms in the legal sector were criticised yesterday by former justice minister Alan Shatter, who declared that “vested interests” had won over the rights of consumers.

FOUR years on from Alan Shatter’s attempts to revamp the legal profession, the Legal Services Regulation Bill is on the cusp of becoming law.

The capitulation of the Government to the legal profession displays again how vested interests can hold others to ransom, writes Michael Clifford

The Government’s plans to reform the guardian ad litem (GAL) system constitute a “step backwards” and raise serious concerns around compliance with “constitutional and international standards”, the Council of the Bar of Ireland has warned.

A dispute resolution process put forward by DePuy International aimed at settling over 1,000 cases, in Ireland, against the global company over allegedly defective hip implants has been branded as “manifestly unfair”.

Retired Central Criminal Court judge Barry White wants to resume practice as a barrister “due to economic necessity” but he is being prevented from doing so by an unconstitutional Bar Council rule, it has been claimed at the High Court.

Drug consumption rooms can play a role in reducing overdoses and encouraging hard-core addicts into treatment, according to the EU drugs agency.

Senior gardai have privately told drugs minister Aodhán Ó Ríordáin they face an “impossible situation” battling open drug use on the streets and that current approaches “aren’t working”.

Heroin addicts should be allowed to legally inject their drug in a medically supervised setting, drugs minister Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has said.

A drug project has welcomed a statement from a government TD calling for supervised centres where people can inject drugs.

A leading addiction service has sought the expertise of the Bar Council to draft proposed laws which would allow addicts to legally inject heroin in a medical setting.

Former minister for justice Alan Shatter is not proceeding with his claim of a "reasonable apprehension of bias" on the part of barrister Sean Guerin in preparing his report concerning Mr Shatter’s handling of complaints by Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe.

The former justice minister is still trashing the good name of the man who wrought his fall from grace,writes Michael Clifford

Alan Shatter set out to reform the judicial system but left a lot of legislative loose ends behind, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

The IMF has denied it tried to undermine the country’s legal system when as part of the Troika it insisted on changes to cut lawyers costs as part of our austerity programme.

The chief justice has called for a radical overhauling of the way in which judges are appointed, warning that “political allegiance should have no bearing on appointments.”

NOW that former solicitor Thomas Byrne has begun a 12-year sentence for fraud-related offences committed while operating his own multi-disciplinary practice, close attention needs to be paid to the introduction of new or alternative business structures for lawyers and to the measures which may be introduced to regulate them.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter has said the new Court of Appeal, approved by voters in the referendum, would be up and running next autumn and cost up to €3m annually.

Three quarters of people in the UK believe rape suspects should be given anonymity until they are convicted, a poll has suggested.

The Taoiseach has refused to intervene in an escalating row between the judiciary and the Justice Minister, Alan Shatter, but said there were “legitimate issues” that need to be discussed.

Ireland’s second most senior judge has come out in support of the Association of Judges in Ireland and issued a public rebuke to the master of the High Court, Edmund Holohan.

One of the country’s biggest maternity hospitals, the Rotunda in Dublin, had six cases last year where pregnancies were terminated to save mothers’ lives.

The cost of the free legal aid scheme has fallen by 10% after three separate reductions in rates paid to solicitors and barristers.

Business confidence in the legal profession is improving, with one in four law firms expecting a better outlook for 2013, according to a survey.

Sky-high legal costs borne by taxpayers are to be cut by a series of measures which will cap fees charged by barristers to the State Claims Agency by 25%.

The cost of hiring a lawyer will rise as a result of the Government’s plan for a new regulatory authority to govern legal services, according to the professional body for barristers.

LAWYERS are making “bogus” claims about threats to the independence of the profession in order to escape regulation, according to Justice Minister Alan Shatter.

CRIMINAL cases due for hearing at Dublin’s circuit and district courts could be disrupted today as a group of lawyers protest over cuts to the legal aid system.