Twenty-one new judges will be appointed to the courts as figures show the previous recruitment of 24 additional members of the judiciary resulted in significant increases in court sittings.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said there had been a 33 per cent increase in the number of family law cases resolved in the District Court. An additional 13 per cent of criminal cases were resolved in the District Court, following the appointments.
The number of civil cases concluded in the Circuit Court rose by 6.5 per cent, and waiting times for civil trials in the Circuit Court dropped from 50 weeks in 2023 to 31 weeks in 2025, he said.
Mr O’Callaghan was speaking as he introduced legislation in the Dáil for the appointment of 21 extra judges to the District Court, Circuit Court, High Court and Court of Appeal.
RM Block
The previous government had appointed 24 of a recommended 44 additional judges.
Mr Callaghan said the extra appointment to the Court of Appeal is because a sitting judge of the court, Mr Justice Michael McGrath, will chair the commission of investigation into the handling of historical child sexual abuse in day and boarding schools.
The Minister said District Court sittings increased by 14 per cent, Circuit Court sittings by 28 per cent and High Court sittings by 19 per cent.
“Waiting times for criminal appeals in the Circuit Court are down from 33 weeks to 24 and [there was] a 5.9 per cent increase in resolved cases in the High Court between 2022 and 2025.”
He added: “Waiting time for bail cases in the High Court has decreased from 104 weeks in 2022 to 41 in 2025, and priority custody cases decreased from 70 weeks to 28 weeks over the same period.”
The Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill aims to ensure the courts can “administer justice efficiently and effectively for all our citizens”, with “improved waiting times across all courts”.
Sinn Féin justice spokesman Matt Carthy said “there also needs to be a corresponding increase in court service staff to ensure that delays are reduced”.
Mr Carthy called for jury members to be paid for the costs they incur in serving and said it was 12 years since the Law Reform Commission had made a recommendation for a “modest, flat daily rate”.
“The absence of such a payment impacts on people who are, in many cases, already struggling with the cost of living, as well as those with caring responsibilities and the self-employed.”
Labour’s Alan Kelly called for action on freeing up gardaí more within the courts and asked about progress on “the use of digitisation of documentation” on various charge sheets and bench warrants.
Social Democrats justice spokesman Gary Gannon said if the State is serious about the administration of justice, it has to be honest about judges being “far too slow to use community-based alternatives that actually do work”.
A short prison sentence “may satisfy the demand for punishment but rarely serves the public interest in the long term. Community sanctions, when properly understood and resourced, are infinitely better.”
Fine Gael TD Catherine Callaghan pointed out that Ireland has the lowest per capita number of judges in the EU, at 3.3 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to a European average of 22.2 judges.
She said, “the cancellation of District Court sittings was largely eliminated by the beginning of last year”, with the appointment of 24 extra judges.
“There was a 17 per cent increase in Circuit Court sittings around the country and waiting times for judicial review in the High Court dropped from 13 weeks to three weeks.”
