A High Court judge complained yesterday that the failure to fill three vacancies on the High Court bench has resulted in delays in getting hearings for jury trials in civil cases.
Mr Justice Eamon de Valera made the comments after he had to adjourn four jury cases which were listed to be heard yesterday.
Mr Justice de Valera is the only judge available to deal with jury cases listed for this week and next, at an average of three a day.
Previously, there were two judges available to deal with jury cases but, due to the shortage of judges, it had not been possible to assign another, Mr Justice de Valera said.
It was regrettable that delays were building up, he said. Had a second judge been available this week, the jury list would have been proceeding much more smoothly than it was.
Until the three current vacancies are filled, there “are going to be delays such as this”, he said.
“If we had our full complement of judges, the delays would not occur.”
