A full 71% of people in Ireland rate the independence of courts and judges as either very good or fairly good, according to the 2024 EU Justice Scoreboard.

Just 18% said it was very bad or fairly bad — the seventh best ranking of all EU member states.

The figures are slightly down on 2016, when 75% rated Ireland’s judicial independence as fairly good or very good.

The ranking is amongst the highest in Europe for public perceptions of judicial independence, the report states.

The scoring shows an improved public perception of judicial independence in Europe.

The European Commission today published the twelfth edition of the annual overview providing comparative data on the efficiency, quality, and independence of justice systems in the EU.

A Eurobarometer survey of the public shows that, since 2016, perception of judicial independence has improved or remained stable in 19 member states.

Only six member states have procedural rules which allow the admissibility of evidence in digital format in civil, commercial, administrative, and criminal cases.

Online claim initiation

The findings reveal that there is still room for improvement in capacity to initiate proceedings or file a claim online.

Nine member states either allow for this possibility in some situations only or do not allow it at all.

The information will feed into the European Commission's 2024 Rule of Law Report.

The EU Justice Scoreboard was launched in 2013 and is used by the commission to monitor justice reforms in member states and is one of the tools in the EU's Rule of Law toolbox.

Věra Jourová (European Commission’s vice-president for values and transparency) said: “The latest EU Justice Scoreboard shows that our efforts to strengthen judicial independence across the EU are bearing fruit.”