81 Mr. Cullimore asked the Minister for Justice if, in view of the very serious situation with the backlog of cases in upper and lower courts he has any immediate plans to rectify this.

Assuming that the reference in the question to upper and lower courts is to be taken as encompassing the High, Circuit and District Courts, the implication seems to be that in all of these courts there is a serious situation with a backlog of cases awaiting hearing. That is not in fact the position. The reality is that, in general, the courts are operating effectively and that in the vast majority of cases there are no undue delays. As an extremely wide range of issues and cases come before the Courts every day, it must, of course, be recognised that it is inevitable that delays may arise from time to time.

If delays arise in any court venue or in relation to any particular category of court business, every effort is made to address the problem by the holding of additional court sittings.