The publication by the Minister for Justice of a Bill designed to transfer the management of the courts system from the Department of Justice into an independent agency is a historic development with the potential to benefit every citizen. The Law Society welcomes it unreservedly provided that the necessary resources, of which the courts have traditionally been starved, are put in place to allow the new agency to deliver the modern, effective and efficient court system to which the Irish people are entitled.

The Law Society and the Bar Council, among others, have been calling for this move for years. Indeed, most similar jurisdictions, those based on the common law system, across the world have already long since adopted the independent agency model. For example, the courts service in Northern Ireland was established almost 20 years ago.

The basic administrative infrastructure of our courts has remained unchanged since 1924; this is despite an enormous increase in civil and criminal litigation in recent decades. In addition, some of the courts must now cope on a regular basis with cases of a length and complexity virtually unknown in earlier times. While this initiative appeared in programmes for government in both 1992 and 1994, the concept was thoroughly researched and fleshed out by a working group appointed in November 1995 by the then Minister for Justice, Mrs Nora Owen TD, and chaired by Mrs Justice Susan Denham of the Supreme Court. The Denham Working Group's report in April 1996 represented a damning indictment of the courts management system, which still applies today. The litany of problems included:

no clear reporting structure

no adequate performance measurements

no objectives

minimum planning

poor use of information technology

fragmentation of administration systems between each of the courts

apparent remoteness of administration system from the judiciary

lack of statistical or financial information

no strategic plan

These management and structural problems, combined with the disgraceful under-funding of the courts system by successive governments for many decades, manifested themselves from the public's point of view primarily in the all-pervasive delay of cases, the lack of dignified and adequate courthouses, the lack of any information service and, indeed, a sense obtained by many that the system was run for the convenience of vested interests and not, primarily, for the public.

By creating an independent agency, to be called The Courts Service, with responsibility for both its own budget and for the management of the courts, the aim is to deliver clearly focused, streamlined and coordinated management of what will be a modern, efficient and effective system of justice. The chief dragon to be slain is undue delay. Considerable progress has been made in this regard in the past year as a result of the appointment by the last government of a substantial number of additional judges and by certain administrative procedures, which were undertaken to eliminate the dead wood of already settled cases which were clogging up the court lists. There will still be considerable work to do by the new Courts Service, however, before all citizens can enjoy the speedy access to the courts which justice requires. The key feature of The Courts Service will be the creation of a board to run the service, chaired by the Chief Justice and comprising members of the judiciary, who will be in the majority, together with the chief executive of The Courts Service, representatives of solicitors and barristers, of courts staff, of consumer interests, of ICTU and, most probably, of IBEC.

The chief executive will be a key figure and will be responsible to the board for the day-to-day operations of the service. The board will appoint staff and those staff who are currently employed in the courts will transfer to the new Courts Service.

The Denham Working Group found the courts to be staffed by excellent and very dedicated people. The staff were as frustrated as everyone else. In difficult circumstances, and with few resources, they gave a remarkably good service to the State. In addition, they were sometimes blamed for matters, such as delays, which did not lie in their area of responsibility.

The Courts Service will not be accountable for judicial decisions. These must remain the sole responsibility of the judiciary. Political accountability of the service to a Minister of Justice will be for financial and administrative matters within the system.

Particularly welcome is the Minister's commitment to have the Bill passed by the Oireachtas and on the statute books by Christmas. This should allow the transfer of authority to The Courts Service to take place, as planned, by the third quarter of next year. In everyone's interest, it cannot happen too quickly.

Ken Murphy is Director General of the Law Society and was a member of the Working Group on a Courts Service chaired by Mrs Justice Susan Denham.