Message from Chief Justice John L. Murray 

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Courts Service website.

The establishment of the Courts Service in November 1999 represented a development of great significance for the courts administration in Ireland. For the first time in the history of the State, that administration was granted a separate institutional identity, with a greatly enhanced level of control over, and responsibility for, the resources allocated to the operation of the courts.

Having forged a new identity as a progressive agency of the State, the Courts Service is focussed upon the challenges posed by the need to deliver services to court users and the legal profession to the highest professional standards. The increasing demands made upon our legal system, whether manifested in the volume and level of complexity of proceedings initiated, or in the expectations of the legal profession and litigating public, require that the Courts Service equip itself to discharge its functions by drawing upon the best management practices, availing of the latest technologies available.

This website has already proved to be a valuable tool in enabling the Courts Service to meet the needs of litigants and practitioners for information on the day to day business of the courts, as well as providing a valuable reference for those interested in the functioning of the courts system. I am confident that the web site will play an increasingly important role as a platform for the most up to date techniques in delivering information and services to the court user and the general public.