Pilot Courts Portal for Circuit Court Family Law in Dublin now live

The Digital Rules approved by the Rules Committees have been published.
Circuit Court Digital S.I.:S.I. 217 of 2025
District Court Digital S.I.: S.I. 218 of 2025

This facilitates the new Portal which allows practitioners and the self-represented to make filings online is only currently available for Circuit Court Family Law in Dublin. The Portal is being developed incrementally one section at a time in consultation with practitioners, judges and users.

Video update from Owen Harrison, CIO, The Courts Service 

The Digital Rules, which the Superior Courts, Circuit Court and District Court Rules Committees adopted last year, have been published and the Statutory Instruments are available through links on courts.ie. For the specific SI links see below.

The Digital Rules allow for end-to-end digitisation of court processes and make online filing, payments and tracking of court documents and cases possible. They also specifically make provisions for a Statement of Truth, which is a fully online affidavit and digital serving. The Digital Rules underpin the digital interaction with the new Courts Portal which has gone live on a pilot basis for Circuit Court Family Law in Dublin

Owen Harrison, Chief Information Officer, for the Courts Service, explains the opportunity the Digital Rules and Courts Portal offers;

“The Courts Portal going live in Dublin for Circuit Court Family Law applications means legal practitioners and self-representatives in Dublin can file to court, complete Statements of Truth (online affidavits) and serve other parties online. The Courts Portal is accepting Circuit Court filings for Family law applications in Dublin now. Underpinned by the Digital Rules, this is a completely new service and new approach to digital service development being offered by the Courts Service to improve the court experience for all.”

Speaking about our digital transformation Mr. Harrison explained

“We have worked with Courts Service staff, judiciary, practitioners and members of the public over the last number of months and years to get to this point. Last year we introduced a new case management system for Courts Service staff in Circuit Court Family Law. This was followed by the introduction of a judicial version of the case management system. Prior to adding the Courts Portal for Circuit Court Family Law as a pilot for practitioners in Dublin, we had extensive engagement with practitioners to understand their systems and ways of working.”

Speaking about the next steps Mr. Harrison noted

“This is only the beginning, we’re keen for practitioners in Dublin for Circuit Court Family Law to sign up to the Court Portal accessible from portal.courts.ie so that they can start filing. As soon as they do this, we want to hear from them as we plan to upgrade and iterate as we get feedback from practitioners. This is brand new for everyone, and we are keen to continue to develop the Portal in an agile way improving as we go. Once we’re happy with Courts Portal for Circuit Court Family Law in Dublin we will move out of the ‘pilot stage’ and rollout the Courts Portal for Circuit Court Family Law nationwide. After this we will then move to the next addition to the Portal which will be for Probate and so on.”

Speaking about the work of the Rules Committees, Mr. Harrison confirmed

“The Rules Committees, who are made up of the judiciary and legal practitioners, took a very thorough approach to the Digital Rules and their implications. In addition to inserting a new set of rules enabling digital processes, they amended the general body of Rules of Court. For example, those rules which deal with issuing of summonses, service, digital signatures, and entering appearances to ensure that there is no conflict in our new Digital rules with the rest of the Rules of Court.”