The Government is to be congratulated for accepting with such despatch the report from the Working Party on a Courts Commission proposing, that an independent and permanent Courts Services Board be established to manage a unified courts system. The research and documentation carried out by the commission established that the existing system is in terminal crisis, with appalling effects on those who have to endure its delays and overloads. It is essential now that the new arrangements be properly funded and introduced with minimum delay - which would, incidentally, stand to the Government's advantage if it can be accomplished before the next election.
Equal congratulations are due to the energetic, working party that has produced this report in such a short time and with the consensus of its diverse and, distinguished membership. There is an urgency, a directness and an acute awareness of the social consequences of the existing system being at breaking point - features which were also noteworthy in last month's report from Law Reform Commission on the family court system. It is therefore good news that this working party is now to turn its attention to reform of the family law regime, which has put such an unprecedented strain on the courts in recent years. The picture that emerges from these pages - of overcrowded courts, poor communication, quite unsatisfactory methods of management, an absence of statistical information and information for the public - rings very true, all the more so because it comes, as it were, from the horse's mouth, not from outside critics of the court system.
The Minister for Just ice, Mrs Owen, says it will take some time to introduce the changes and that legislation is needed to set up the new statutory body. It has not yet been decided how much funding will be required to implement the proposals accepted yesterday. It is to be hoped that the decision to refer back a number of the logistical and staffing matters arising from the report to the working party is not a delaying tactic, which has regrettably been so typical of other approaches to legal reform in this State. The Government must realise that it has an excellent chance to make rapid progress in an area that affects so many peoples' lives and on which it has a rare consensus within the legal profession and throughout politics.
It is hard to identify losers in this picture of necessary reform; even those who have gained most from the court system can hardly fail to support the administrative and managerial changes proposed and benefit from the greater legitimacy and efficiency they will yield. Nor is any interest other than bureaucratic inertia served by perpetuating the present system. The new Courts Services Board would be accountable to the Minister for Just ice and her Department and clear lines of communication could easily be established between them which would allow for political accountability to the Oireachtas. Most of the existing staff would transfer to the new board. As the report says, there is good reason to believe that they too could benefit greatly from a more streamlined staff structure integrated within the proposed courts service.