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Prosecutions by state bodies to be handled by Courts Service online

The Courts Service is ramping up efficiencies with jury summons administration to be centralised in Castlebar, Co Mayo. And all documents for legal actions initiated offshore, which concern an Irish citizen or company, will now be managed centrally by the Courts Service.

All 60 organisations and government departments with prosecutorial duties ­– such as An Post, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine – will now be able to initiate prosecutions electronically.

Accuracy

Paperwork that was previously brought to the Courts Service manually, is now going online, leading to greater accuracy and efficiencies, a Courts Service spokesman said.

Due to the massive intake in civil and public servants in the 1970s, a large cohort of staff will be retiring in the next ten years.

Institutional knowledge

Accordingly, the Courts Service is implementing detailed succession planning to ensure the retention of institutional knowledge.

A new management structure will allow for job rotation to facilitate broader training across different roles. Technical upskilling of staff is also on the cards with agile and reactive resource management allocation.

Simultaneously, clear and consistent parameters for customer service are to be introduced.

Pauline Redmond of the Courts Service implementation team said “We have established a new centralised office in Castlebar to deal with the service of foreign documents under EU regulations and the administration of jury summons.

“Staff are currently being recruited for that office. We expect that the Service of Foreign Documents Unit will become operational during the second quarter of this year,” she said.

Solicitors are also reminded that they can now lodge applications electronically for leave to appeal in the Supreme Court in cases where all parties are legally represented.

The formal filing of papers in applications for leave to appeal will be facilitated via CSOL the Courts Service online portal (www.csol.ie).

Some of the key benefits for practitioners include:
• Application for leave online,
• Upload relevant application documents,
• Pay fees online,
• Lodge respondent’s notice.

An information seminar for over 30 legal professionals and other professional court users was held in the Four Courts recently.

Head of the Superior Courts Operations Directorate Geraldine Hurley explained the steps required to create an application online.

A simple three step registration process is required on CSOL before applications can be filed. Follow these links for online guides on the process, including an instructional video.

Meanwhile, Alan Baker has joined the Courts Service News editorial team from the Department of Health. Alan will bring his IT and press office experience to the project to redevelop the Courts Service website.