Northern Ireland's new Public Prosecution Service will handle up to 75,000 court cases each year, freeing up police for frontline duties, according to the service.
The creation of the service, which opened yesterday, is another building block in the implementation of the Belfast Agreement and is as significant as the reform of policing, Northern Secretary Peter Hain said.
The service is part of a series of criminal justice reform measures which include the British Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer today inaugurating the Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission and announcing the appointment of its members.
Details of the new Causeway electronic system are also to be announced shortly which will allow lawyers, judges and other legal workers access files in a matter of seconds that previously could take two weeks to retrieve.
The chief element of the Public Prosecution Service is that it will have responsibility for all prosecutions in Northern Ireland previously conducted by the PSNI, said its director, Sir Alasdair Fraser, yesterday. When fully functional next year, the service will have regional prosecutors.
