Management of the Courts: The Irish Experience

Abstract

The management and administration of the courts in Ireland had remained essentially unchanged since the Courts of Justice Act of 1924, which provided for the courts system of the new State shortly after independence. The 1924 regime left a vacuum, failing to address the need for an independent administrative structure for the Courts. There was, for example, no Department such as the Lord Chancellor’s Department. Under the Act, the Department of Justice managed the Courts and their funding apart from judicial salaries. Those arrangements followed what is often loosely referred to as the “Ministry of Justice” model. Responsibility for the provision of budgetary, staffing and other resources, and the management of those resources, rested with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, as it is now known, through its Courts Division. As distinct from the allocation of business before the courts, the Judiciary – although it might be consulted and make representations – had little input into the allocation of resources or the way in which they were deployed.