The number of new personal injury cases lodged in the High Court and Circuit Court last year was down 17% on 2021, according to the Courts Service Annual Report.
It comes following new guidelines compiled by the country's judges that came into force last year.
There were just over 1,500 awards made in PI cases in 2022 down from just over 2,000 in 2021.The value of such awards fell by €36 million – from €307 million to €271 million in the same period.
The number of applications for possession of property increased last year after restrictions implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic were lifted.
There were 837 new possession applications to the Circuit Court – an increase of 73% on 2021.
However, the Courts Service says last year’s figure is still 25% lower than 2019 – before the pandemic.
The Courts Service CEO, Angela Denning said the number of new civil cases had not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
She said whether this was due to a change in behaviour or a legacy of the pandemic years remained to be seen.
Last year also saw a large increase in licensing applications - up 311% on 2021’s figures and a little higher than before the pandemic took hold.
The annual report shows there was a 15% increase in the number of divorces granted in 2022 compared to the previous year as well as an 8% increase in guardianship, custody and access cases.
There was also an increase in domestic violence applications coming before the courts compared to 2019.
The figures show 262 sentences were handed down in the Central Criminal Court for rape in 2022.
Only one sentence was fully suspended while no other sentence was less than two years.
The Chief Justice Donal O’Donnell said the report showed the success of the ongoing modernisation initiatives being implemented by the courts service.
He said outdated and time consuming manual processes were being replaced with more efficient digital systems.
In one example he said a new system which automatically pulled charge sheet and station bail data from An Garda Siochana’s systems into the court system had resulted in a huge reduction in the time taken to complete this task.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee welcomed the publication of the report.
She said that the greater use of digital technologies during the pandemic had improved the administration of justice.
She said further reforms including streamlining processes and increasing court sittings would help to ensure that everyone could access justice in a fair and timely manner.
The Office of the Legal Costs Adjudicators, which makes decisions on disputes about legal costs, also published its annual report today.
It shows an increase of 7% in the number of cases filed to be adjudicated - however the value of the costs claimed in the cases has increased significantly, going from over €110 million in 2021 to over €192 million last year.
The most amount of money, more than €53 million, was being claimed in medical negligence cases.
