There is a commitment in the programme for Government to propose legislation to reduce excessive delays in trials and court proceedings. The most obvious way to do that is to appoint more judges. There are at least five vacancies at present. Can the Tánaiste confirm that those vacancies will be filled before new legislation is in place? If not, can she say when the legislation will be brought before the House?

I expect to publish the heads of the Bill to provide for establishing a new judicial appointments commission this term. Then it will have to proceed to pre-legislative scrutiny and be passed by the House, so it will depend on the arrangements that are made in that regard. Our preference is to make any further judicial appointments when that legislation is in place, but clearly the Government will continue to consider the needs of the courts as they arise over the forthcoming period.

On the same subject, the Court of Appeal has done a huge amount of work since its establishment in clearing a backlog of cases. People involved in such cases often suffer greatly when it takes years for the case to come to appeal. With regard to the Court of Appeal, is the Tánaiste telling the Dáil that she is delaying further appointments to that court until such time as the legislation promised in the programme for Government is implemented? The Tánaiste has just said that the heads of the legislation relating to a judicial appointments structure will be published some time in the near future. That will be followed by the drafting of legislation and bringing the legislation through the legislative process. Can the Tánaiste say when she expects this legislation to be in place? Does she have a game plan or is this more drift on matters relating to justice and the Garda? It is causing incredible damage to people's morale and confidence in the institutions of the State.

When does the Tánaiste realistically expect Uachtarán na hÉireann to sign the legislation in order that it can begin to operate?

There is no vacancy in the Court of Appeal. The previous Government established the court and it is doing an outstanding job under its President, Mr. Justice Sean Ryan. It is getting on with its work, as is the Supreme Court. I have made it clear that it is priority legislation which the Attorney General and my Department are working on. We expect to have the heads of Bill in the near future. Then we will see the timeframe from the Committee on Justice and Equality regarding pre-legislative scrutiny and I will be in a position to answer the question.