A HIGH Court judge has called for measures to tackle the “unacceptable and embarrassing” waiting list for the hearing of personal injuries actions, including cases involving “catastrophic” injuries.
Mr Justice John Quirke made the comments yesterday when dealing with a list of 55 personal injury actions which no judge was available to hear as the three judges allocated to personal injury actions were already hearing other cases.
The list extended to 55 because of a mounting backlog of cases which had failed to get heard despite being listed for hearing in previous days. Mr Justice Quirke told a court packed with lawyers and litigants seeking a hearing date that there were 55 cases on his list but no available courts and judges to hear them.
The situation was “regrettable, embarrassing, unsatisfactory and unacceptable”, he said. He said Ireland had the lowest number of judges per capita in the developing world.