A senior High Court judge has voiced his concerns over the “regrettable, embarrassing, unsatisfactory and unacceptable” delays litigants are experiencing in bringing personal injury claims to court.
Mr Justice John Quirke expressed his opinion in the Dublin High Court after learning that an expert witness, who had been waiting for five days to give testimony on behalf of a defendant in a personal injury claim, had to return to England.
The judge told the assembled barristers and litigants that there were currently 55 cases on his list waiting to be heard – some of which concerned victims with catastrophic injuries – but there were no available courts or judges available for them.
He apologised for the developing pattern where experts were being brought to court on a specific date, only to be kept waiting for longer than a week to give testimony, and commented that Ireland had the lowest number of judges per capita in the developing world.
Mr Justice John Quirke said to the packed court that there was much he could do except fix a date for the hearing to go ahead in the next term and that he was embarrassed by the situation where so many people were left waiting.