Irish courts are the slowest in the EU at hearing and deciding cases, a new report has found.
The report, compiled by the Law Society of Ireland’s Centre for Justice and Law Reform, drew on national and international data to evaluate how the State’s justice institutions perform compared with other jurisdictions.
The Justice Indicators report, published on Wednesday, found that the average case disposal time of 541 days in 2020 was more than three times the European estimate of 168 days. But overall case disposition time here was cut by about 104 days between 2019 and 2024.
The Republic’s €38.23 per capita spend on the courts is 25 per cent less than the €50.70 European average and it has the lowest number of judges per 100,000 population of the 46 Council of Europe states, the report noted.
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The intentional homicide rate, including murder, is 40 per cent less than the European average and the comparative rate of sexual offences is more than 40 per cent higher.
Other key findings include that public trust in the gardaí, judiciary and courts is 27 per cent higher than the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) average.
Although Garda numbers fell over the years 2019 to 2024, the State’s 264 gardaí per 100,000 people was above the European average.
The average five- to seven-month sentence served in Irish prisons is lower than the Council of Europe average of 10-11 months. Life sentences and terms of 10 years or more accounted for 19 per cent of total sentences here.
[ Ireland’s justice system is operating with too many data blind spots ]
Per capita spending on Irish prisons, at €50.59, is 16 per cent less than the EU average of €60.06 while prison occupancy rates were higher than the EU average.
Using a traffic light system, the report evaluated the resourcing, effectiveness and efficiency of the Irish justice system across four areas: trust, policing, courts and prisons.
It made 16 recommendations for better data collection and reporting by the relevant public bodies, including that the Courts Service publish the average length of court proceedings for all courts and more data on case clearance rates.
Law Society president Rosemarie Loftus hoped the research “will assist all policymakers who impact the justice system in the allocation of resources, and support the development of fair, transparent and effective justice policies”.
Society director general Mark Garrett said the report underlined the “urgent need” for more comprehensive and transparent data collection and reporting across the justice system.
The data showed 69 per cent of Irish people trusted the courts in 2023, above the OECD average of 54 per cent. Judicial independence was rated between 71-74 per cent, above the EU average of 52-56 per cent.
The OECD found 70 per cent of Irish people in 2023 trusted their police, higher than the OECD average of 63 per cent.
There was insufficient data to measure public trust in the prison system. But the report noted a 2022 survey found 51 per cent had confidence in the Irish Prison Service to provide safe and secure custody and 34 per cent were confident about its rehabilitation effectiveness.
In relation to recorded crime, the State’s 57 sexual offences per 100,000 people between 2019 and 2023 were 43 per cent above the EU average of 40 per 100,000.
