This plan outlines the strategic direction, challenges and priorities for the Courts Service in the next three years. In 2020, the Courts Service adopted an ambitious ten-year Modernisation Programme aimed at improving access to justice in a modern, digital Ireland. We have started to work on this programme of court reform, which aims to bring new technology and modern ways of working to the administration of justice. We know we can make access to justice easier and quicker to navigate and that we can better respond to the needs of court users. We aim to design our processes and systems around court users so as to build a more effective Courts system and to generate efficiencies for court users and for the taxpayer.

This important document provides direction for our business plans and how we go about achieving our goals for the next three years. Our recent collaborative experience in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in an accelerated pace of change, moving us further into our Modernisation Programme in a shorter time frame than we could have expected. We have participated in a large experiment with technology, altered user channels and adopted remote working through necessity. We will now engage with Judges, court users, staff and our partners across the justice system to maximise the benefits from our collective recent lived experience. We will also design new methods of service delivery that best suit our users and sustain the momentum for change outside of a crisis.

Our commitment to public service values, innovation, resilience and agility shown in recent months by our staff demonstrates that we are well placed to meet the challenges that lie ahead. The lessons learnt from Covid-19 will help us better deliver on our mission to support the Judiciary and provide excellent services to all users of the Courts thereby facilitating access to justice. We will provide strong, visible leadership, build additional capacity and skills in our teams and reorient the organisation to best support delivery of our goals. Our operating environment is dynamic, and this plan will therefore be complemented by annual corporate business plans. Progress will be reviewed by our Board allowing us to continue to refine and adapt our efforts. Improved management data will be key to holding ourselves to account for our performance against this plan and associated business plans.