More than a quarter of a million matters were dealt with by the courts last year, an increase of 15 per cent on the previous year.
This figure, along with hundreds of other statistics, is contained in the second Annual Report of the Courts Service.
It is the first report in which full figures are available, most of them compiled from the manual records held in courts around the country, and also the first in which comparisons are made with last year, and, in some instances, previous years.
It therefore gives an insight into how Irish society is changing, as reflected in the use of the court system.
The most startling figure to emerge is the increase of 50 per cent in criminal cases coming before the circuit courts, up from 8,999 in 2000 to 13,695 in 2001. But much of this increase is accounted for by an increase in appeals from the district court, which went up from 6,211 in 2000 to 11,052 last year, leaving 2,844 cases dealt with initially in the circuit court, an increase of 558 on the previous year.
There was a significant increase also in guilty pleas, up from 1,360 in 2000 to 2,121 last year.
Much of the increase in the work of the High Court was accounted for by three areas - judicial reviews of asylum cases, allegations of assault (up four-fold) and allegations of negligence (a 15-fold increase). Last year was the first in which a special court was delegated to consider asylum judicial reviews, with one judge working full-time in it. The dramatic increase in cases alleging assault and negligence reflect the numbers alleging physical, emotional and sexual abuse in institutions and elsewhere.
The district courts were also busier, especially in the area of family law. In this area the district courts deal with matters such as safety, protection and barring orders, maintenance, and custody and access issues.
The volume has been increasing steadily over the past number of years, and the figures show a 40 per cent increase over the past five years.
On the other hand, there has been a decline in the civil cases going to the district court, from 109,947 in 1996 to 79,533 last year. This is probably accounted for by the fact that the amount of money on which the district court can adjudicate is limited to €6,348 (formerly £5,000).
The increased volume has meant delays in certain courts, though these vary widely. The most serious delays all relate to crime, where the Special Criminal Court, the Central Criminal Court and the Circuit Criminal Court all experience long delays. This reflects both the shortage of judges, as judges were seconded to work on tribunals, and the growth in demand.
In the Special Criminal Court trials also tend to take longer, and days are often taken up with legal argument. The delay in the Central Criminal Court was reduced from 18 to 16 months during the year, but crept up again due to the shortage of judges. New judges have now been appointed.