Top judge: Courts can’t take any more cuts

The top judge in the land yesterday warned the Government that a "great and lasting damage" will be done to the courts if there are any further cuts to their budget.

Chief Justice Susan Denham told Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald that instead of continuing austerity the Government could save money by coming up with “imaginative ways” to deal with traffic offences, which puts “great strain” on district courts.

Launching the Courts Service annual report 2013, Ms Justice Denham said almost six out of every 10 cases before the district courts — almost 290,000 offences — were related to non-payment of road traffic fines.

But the chief justice held most of her fire for the minister, who also addressed the launch, saying they could take no more financial cuts.

“Any further or continued subtraction of monies and staff from the Courts Service budget will cause a great and lasting damage to our courts system,” said the judge.

The top justice said the cuts not only affected staff levels in courts and back office support structures, but also meant a “dearth” of building projects.

Under the cuts that have hit the Courts Service:

nStaff numbers are down 157, to 924 (a cut of 15%) — with warnings it will be drop to 20% if recruitment moratorium continues

nTotal gross funding has decreased by 25% since 2008

n42% reduction (from 100m in 2008 to €58m in 2013) in the cost to the State in running the service

nMs Justice Denham accepted all public services had been hit by austerity, but added: “We contend we have absorbed more than our fair share.”

There are fears within the Courts Service that court cases could be cancelled at short notice given the shortages.

The chief justice said that despite reductions of 13% in the number of cases heard at district court level — which is down from “historic highs” — it remained an “extraordinarily busy” court.

She said a significant burden on district courts were road traffic cases, accounting for 58% of the total in 2013 — equivalent to 284,949 cases.

“Unlike other jurisdictions, non payment of fines for traffic offences automatically results in a driver being summonsed to court. This puts a great strain on the courts system,” she said.

She called on the departments of transport and justice to work with her officials to come up with “imaginative alternatives”.

This could include taking fines off tax credits; adding it on to road tax; or contracting private debt collectors.

The chief justice described the new Court of Appeal — now established under legislation — as a “landmark development”.

Ms Fitzgerald said the funding of the Courts Service had been “reduced in common with every area with the justice sector”. She pointed out that the Government had this week given €2 million to cover court accommodation and facilities for judges and staff for the Court of Appeal, due to start in October.