I am sure the Taoiseach agrees that justice delayed is justice denied. It is a fundamental core function of the Government to ensure the appointment of judges to our courts in a timely and effective manner. It is quite extraordinary that there is still a backlog of up to 1,800 cases waiting to be heard by the Court of Appeal. That court, as the Taoiseach knows, came about as a result of a constitutional amendment and was established in 2014, with delays of up to four and a half years having been seen previously. A recent assessment by a law lecturer in Maynooth indicates that, despite the work under way, the rate of progress means it will take approximately 11 years for the backlog to be cleared. Chief Justice Denham and the President of the Court of Appeal, Mr. Justice Seán Ryan, have appealed to the Government to fill vacancies to the Court of Appeal. There are vacancies in the Supreme Court, the District Court and the Circuit Court that have not been filled.

It is said that the Independent Alliance has frozen the appointment of any new judges as a core principle pending the enactment of the judicial appointments Bill. That is unacceptable. The Taoiseach stated that this was not the case but a spokesperson subsequently indicated, after the Labour Party raised the matter, that there would be no appointments until a judicial appointments Bill passed through the House. This is a very serious issue as victims of crime deserve to have their cases heard and see justice achieved. The Government - through the paralysis caused by the Independent Alliance and the weakness of the other side of the Administration in facing up to it - is essentially traversing and interfering with the constitutional right of citizens to have justice achieved.

Hear, hear.

It is a very basic matter in a democracy. Is it the case that there will be no judges appointed until the Government gets around to passing the necessary legislation? That is unacceptable. I put it to the Taoiseach that a Government incapable of appointing judges is dysfunctional. This must be rectified very quickly.

Will the Taoiseach indicate that it is the Government's intention to appoint judges forthwith and that the opposition of the Independent Alliance will not be allowed to hold sway until the Government's Bill is published?

The Deputy is certainly correct when he says that justice delayed is justice denied. I make the point that when I was elected Taoiseach in the first instance, the delay in getting cases into the Supreme Court was over three years and there was a huge backlog right across the entire spectrum of the judicial courts. One of the issues that arose was that a court of appeal should be set up to deal with cases that the High Court would have dealt with but which should not go directly to the Supreme Court because of the delays there. Instead, those cases would be sent to a court of appeal for decision. It took some time to establish the Court of Appeal but when it was set up, it began to work very effectively.

As I understand it, although I do not have the figures in front of me, the number of judicial vacancies in all of the courts is very small at present. I may be wrong, however, and Deputy Martin may have different information. I do not engage with members of the Judiciary on a regular basis and for very good reason. As I understand it, the number of vacancies in the Judiciary is very small. The Deputy is aware of the appointment process that has been followed for many years.

The Tánaiste has set out her views in respect of putting together a judicial appointments commission. That has been responded to by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and, as I understand it, that response has been sent to the Department of Justice and Equality. The Deputy must understand that the Court of Appeal has requested that a further subsection of the court be set up and this would require the appointment of a number of judges. I am not sure how many would be needed but this is not what was intended. Far be it from me to say that the learned members of the Bench are not able to do their job - they are - but the intention in setting up the Court of Appeal was not to have so many cases lying for years before being dealt with by the Supreme Court.

It is not true to say that judges cannot or will not be appointed. The legislation is being proceeded with to drafting conclusion and will be brought before the House. Clearly, I am quite sure that if it was absolutely necessary to make a judicial appointment or appointments, then that would happen.

I understand that, as and from some weeks ago, the number of judicial vacancies is very small. There are none in the Court of Appeal, as far as I can recall, rather they relate to the District Court, the Circuit Court and elsewhere. I will check the figures and advise Deputy Martin on the situation. That is different to the request to set up a new subsection of the Court of Appeal dealing with X number of judges.

The Court of Appeal backlog could take over a decade to clear. That is not my assessment but that of Mr. Seth Barrett Tillman, law lecturer at Maynooth University. I understand - perhaps the Taoiseach will confirm if this has happened - that the Chief Justice and the President of the High Court have approached the Government with a view to having more judges appointed to the Court of Appeal. Either that has happened or it has not.

The Taoiseach did not answer my question. Is it the case that the Independent Alliance has said that no more judges can be appointed until the judicial appointments commission is established? Yes or no. Is that the actual position as we speak? We are being told by the media week after week that the Independent Alliance has frozen any more judicial appointments.

Deputy O'Callaghan will be publishing the legislation that is required today. The Independent Alliance knows all about it because Deputy O'Callaghan, who is quite a learned man in this domain, enlightened its members during the Government formation talks. I suspect that members of the alliance have taken many of Deputy O'Callaghan's lessons on board. We did not think they would take them as enthusiastically on board as they are currently doing, namely, by freezing or paralysing the process relating to the appointment of judges. The legislation to which I refer can be adopted by the Government. I ask the Taoiseach to answer my question. Is the Independent Alliance saying, "No more new judges" and is the Government acquiescing to that? If that is the case, the situation is dysfunctional.

The answer to the question is "No", the Independent Alliance has not attempted to put down its foot and say that no more judges should be appointed.

Fionnan Sheahan says it has.

When the most recent tranche of judges was appointed, the intention was that they might be the last appointed under the old system and that the new legislation would come through-----

So they are frozen.

That is not from the Independent Alliance.

The Taoiseach's spokesman contradicted that.

The spokesman said the opposite after the Taoiseach said the same thing to Deputy Howlin the last day.

No. If Deputy Martin's information is as accurate as he is portraying it to me-----

You are the Taoiseach.

-----can he tell me how many vacancies there are in the Court of Appeal at present?

My understanding is that it is looking for five more judges.

Yes, but I understand it is not the case that there are five vacancies on the Court of Appeal.

There is a clear ten-year backlog.

Those judges would hear different cases on a new subset of the Court of Appeal.

If there is an 11-year-----

The Deputy needs to get his facts right.

It is a different matter.

If it is going to take a decade to clear it, the Taoiseach needs to respond to what he is being told to do.

The Deputy does not have his facts right.

The fact of the matter is that-----

The tail is too strong.

-----we inherited a system that was not working effectively. The Judiciary set out what needed to be done with the District Court, the Circuit Court, the High Court and the Supreme Court to clear this. We were told we needed to set up a Court of Appeal.

We have vacancies.

That is what the previous Government did. It filled that with a very good president and all the numbers that were due. A backlog has now built up because of the number of cases that moved through the High Court and off to the Court of Appeal.

There are 187-----

The Judiciary will quite rightly say more judges are needed to deal with these cases.

This has been done with the District Court and the Circuit Court.

I will check the numbers that are vacant and I will advise Deputy Martin in that regard this afternoon.

I call Deputy Gerry Adams.

The insinuation made by Deputy Martin is not true.

That is what they are saying.

Deputy Martin needs to get his facts right.

The Minister of State might talk to the Minister, Deputy Ross.

The Deputy needs to get his numbers right.

We are not here to conduct a conversation. Deputy Adams has the floor.