The new review of the courts system has been welcomed as "long overdue" by the family of Siobhán Hynes, the Connemara schoolgirl who was murdered in December 1998.
Mr Michael Hynes, Siobhán's uncle, said that the establishment of a working group by the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Keane, to carry out the review was "a positive step". Last year, after the conviction of John McDonagh for his niece's rape and murder, Mr Hynes expressed serious concern about the long delay in holding the trial, and the effect that this had on families involved.
Mr Hynes wrote to the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, to ask him to take action on this. Last July, the Minister wrote to the Chief Justice with a request that he consider the relationship between the Circuit and Central Criminal courts, with a view to cutting back on the delays.
Mr Hynes, who is a US citizen, said that he was alarmed that no comprehensive critical analysis of the Irish courts system had been undertaken since it was set up in 1924. "Victims' respective families have suffered severely under the present system," he said. "I would hope that all aspects of the current system are re-evaluated, and changes implemented to accommodate the victims of crime and their families." The terms of reference for the working group, chaired by Supreme Court judge Mr Justice Fennelly, are to carry out a root-and-branch examination of the organisation of the courts system, and to recommend any necessary changes to allow for the fair, expeditious and economic administration of justice.
First issues to be examined include the jurisdiction and volume of work affecting the criminal courts, and it is hoped that an initial report will be available within a year.
Though this is beyond the remit of the review, Mr Hynes has also appealed to the Minister to examine current sentencing, and has criticised what he has described as "serious flaws" within the legislative system. He has singled out as one of these "flaws" the decision to allow bail to the man later found guilty of his niece's rape (with an object) and her murder.
Gardaí had opposed the initial bail application, and during the 2½-year period leading up to the trial there was an attempt by the Director of Public Prosecutions to have this revoked, after McDonagh was rearrested and charged with soliciting for the purposes of prostitution. McDonagh's counsel applied to have the terms of the bail varied in the High Court.
In a reply to Mr Hynes last September, the Minister said that the 1997 Bail Act tightened up the system of granting bail. It gave effect to the 16th Amendment of the Constitution which provided for the refusal of bail to a person charged with a serious offence, where it was reasonably considered necessary to prevent the commission of a serous offence by that person. However, the decision to grant bail in a particular case was a matter for the courts, the Minister said, as they were constitutionally independent.