A group chaired by the President of the High Court, Mr. Justice Peter Kelly, has been established to review the administration of civil justice in the State. The group is to report to the Minister for Justice and Equality. It will make recommendations with a view to improving access to civil justice in the State.
The group requests submissions from interested persons or parties in relation to its work. The broad areas to be pursued by the group will, in an overall context of improving access to justice and reducing costs of litigation, be:
(a) Improving procedures and practices and removal of obsolete, unnecessary or over-complex rules of procedure;
(b) Reviewing the law of discovery;
(c) Encouraging alternative methods of dispute resolution;
(d) Reviewing the use of electronic communications including e-litigation and possibilities for making court documents (including submissions and proceedings) available or accessible on the internet;
(e) Achieving more effective and less costly outcomes for court users, particularly vulnerable court users.
Submissions must be no longer than 5,000 words and submissions which exceed this will be returned. Submissions must state, in the subject line of the email, the area of the group’s work which is addressed as per the list above. More than one submission may be used to address multiple areas. Please note that submissions may be published in the future.
Submissions should be sent solely in electronic form to: submissions@civiljusticereview.ie by 12pm Friday, 16th February, 2018.
For more detailed information on the terms of reference and membership of the group click here.