REACTION:MINISTER FOR Justice Dermot Ahern said the increased volume of cases coming before the courts, as shown by the Courts Service 2007 annual report, partly reflected the increase in Garda resources and an increase in population.
Mr Ahern said: "You go back to the fact we have huge increases in Garda resources, huge increase in Garda numbers, so they're investigating more and more crimes.
"Hopefully they're coming up with more convictions and prosecutions, and while you can look at this report negatively, equally so you can look at it positively in that it clearly shows there is more productivity coming out of the resources that taxpayers put into the Courts Service."
Referring to the increase in medical negligence cases, he said a fear of being sued contributed to the growth in bureaucracy in the health service. "People are entitled to sue if they feel they have been wronged. So, while people give out about all the form-filling they have to go through, the reality is because people have become more litigious, it means then the system has to react accordingly."
The Courts Service spent €131 million in 2007, of which €61 million was collected in fees and fines, according to its report.
The mandate of the Courts Service, established by legislation as an independent body in November 1999, is to look after court buildings, provide court services, manage the courts, support the judiciary and provide information to court users and the public.
It has 173 court venues, many of them refurbished within the past eight years at a cost of €200 million, and 82 offices throughout the State employing 1,100 staff.
According to the report, an independent survey was carried out to establish satisfaction with the service offered to the public and identify areas for improvement.
It found 96 per cent of staff interactions in public offices and on the phone were professional and polite, and 91 per cent found that staff were courteous.
There were 1.3 million visitors to the Courts Service website in 2007.
Among the information activities last year were a resource pack for second-level students, Let's Look at the Law, for use in CSPE courses, and the completion of a pilot project on family law reporting.