Why Kildare residents are facing some of the longest court delays In Ireland

It's been a long hot summer in more ways than one.

Delays experienced by people who arrive before Naas District are already serious enough - thanks to a lack of resources, the need for a second judge to tackle the backlog (as often articulated by sitting judge Desmond Zaidan) and a growing population.

Cases proceed through the court system at a glacial rate.

Nevertheless the judicial system virtually closes down every August for the whole month - and it always has.

There is a single sitting a week during August, presided over by a judge who doesn’t normally sit in Naas, which deals only with emergency cases such as family law applications or to deal with people who've been remanded in custody or some who’ve been detained after a warrant was issued for their arrest.

It took some time at a recent sitting for the court clerk to establish contact with Cloverhill Prison. Those held in custody can often have initial hearings done by videolink rather than being brought to the courtroom by prison officers.

The room where the prisoner sits for the case would be seen but it took some time before the prison staff realised that the district court was seeking to have the defendant before the camera.

There were numerous calls of “hello” as we waited for somebody at the other end to realise what was happening.

“We should go back to carrier pigeons," somebody observed and the judge left the courtroom for a brief period.

When contact was established one side couldn’t be heard - and this led to another delay while the tech problem was fixed.

For a time the most audible sounds in the courtroom came from two pigeons perched on an outside window sill.

Eventually the business of the day got underway.

A man appeared in handcuffs accompanied by a prison officer because he's in custody. Some charges against him were withdrawn by the State and the rest were put back to another date.

In another case a barrister complained that his client was being held and medical assistance, which had been requested at a previous hearing, was not provided. The barrister unsuccessfully sought to have the matter struck out, though the judge said a strike out would be considered at the later date.

Matters are not likely to improve at least in the short term.

The ongoing dispute over the legal aid scheme and how solicitors are paid is still in the background. Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan wants to bring in a flat fee of €520 for legal aid cases - to replace the pay per appearance system. T

his flat fee is an increase of the €455 offered initially - after the solicitors withdrew their services. He’s also agreed have the payment of the flat fee split to allow for two thirds of the fee to be paid at the commencement of a case with the remaining third to be paid at the end of the case or after 12 months of the commencement of the case, whichever is the first in time.

O’Callaghan’s position has softened. If he thought the solicitors would cave in he was mistaken. But the real victims here are surely the victims, witnesses and defendants.

Most of the time they have no clue when their cases will be heard.