A TOTAL of 284 appeals were lodged to the Supreme Court in the past year, according to the report of the Working Group on a Courts Commission. The appeals, lodged between August 1995 and June this year, included 58 personal injury cases, 30 judicial reviews, 68 interlocutory cases and 128 others.
The report shows that the Taxing Master's Office received claims for costs totalling almost £10.25 million in the year ending July 31st, 1995. The costs allowed were just over £8.5 million.
Statistics for the Examiner's Office show that 2,207 cases were pending on July 31st, 1995. These included 682 liquidations, 1,154 mortgage cases and 371 others. During the year there were 102 new cases, while 175 were finished.
In 1980/81 there were 54 new cases in the Examiner's Office, with 1,006 pending. A total of 38 cases were finished. Between 1980 and 1995 the number of staff increased by just three to 11.
The report notes that the commission has received 80 submissions so far from interested parties, including women's refuges the Garda Commissioner, solicitors barristers, judges, a number of trade unions, journalists and court clerks and court registrars.