Judge reiterates concerns about courts backlog in County Kildare

Judge Desmond Zaidan has reiterated concerns about the backlog in cases at Naas District Court due to the public health restrictions around the pandemic.

He said: “There were 200 cases all block adjourned today and it is like that every day.”

During the October 22 sitting, he referred to the length of the list of cases and said that court proceedings which should have been dealth with during the morning were dragging into the afternoon. He said: “This is still the morning list and it is now 3pm.”

The President of the District Court recently issued revised measures concerning the business of the courts between October 22 and December 22 due to the introduction of Level 5 restrictions.

Judge Colin Daly said the measures are a necessary response to the Government’s Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021: Framework for Living with Covid-19 document and the recent raising of restrictions to Level 5.

A statement said: “These measures are to ensure access to justice in a manner fully respecting public safety and considering Government public health advice.

“The courts and the justice system have been identified as essential services by the Government in the Framework and we will continue to be open for essential business in the District Court, however we must continue to conduct our business in accordance with public health guidelines.

“We will be limited to the number of people that can safely be present in any of our court buildings and court rooms at any time and we have put in place measures to better regulate the numbers required to attend courts to ensure that court buildings do not become overcrowded.

“There may be times when those not actually necessary to the conduct of the case before the court may be asked to leave and we ask for your cooperation in this regard.”

Judge Daly said he was encouraging all matters before the District Court to be concluded with as few court events as possible, “and we appreciate the cooperation of An Garda Síochana, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and legal practitioners and all court users in this endeavour”.

Where possible, live television links will be used for remote courts to avoid people having to physically come to a court.

Prisoners will also continue to appear by live television link wherever possible.