Courts report - Six years is far too long

Launching the 2012 report of the Courts Service of Ireland Chief Justice Susan Denham yesterday said that ethics in the boardroom and in the governance of enterprises rather than an exclusive focus on the hopes of shareholders is needed to rebuild trust in Ireland’s business sector.

The report also concluded that our courts system had become more efficient and managed to do more with less.

Coincidentally it was announced at the same time that former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Sean FitzPatrick will stand trial in October 2014 on charges of failing to make disclosures to the bank’s auditors about loans he received. His trial will — incredibly — open more than six years after the banks’ collapse. Our justice system is, unfortunately, far less efficient than it must be it seems.