Question
The Justice Minister has recently reported that the courts backlog caused by Covid may not be cleared until 2028 without extra resources. The accompanying BBC commentary referenced a FOI response which showed that in the last quarter of 2021 median case completion times for cases where the defendant was summonsed was 977 days and where defendants were charged by the police was 533 days. Two questions - first, what impact will the continuing delays in the Courts' processing cases have on the ability of the PSNI to expedite investigations; and secondly what assessment has he made of the impact of headcount reductions on the time taken to process cases?
Answer
You can view the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krkbr2w0TVs(external link opens in a new window / tab) The full answer to this question can be found at 39 minutes 30 seconds
Edgar Jardine