For years on end, we have heard the Chief Justice complain about lack of resources, lack of space, an overburdened court system and backlogs.

Last year, Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti listed the same issues, in different words. His predecessors had more or less highlighted the same problems in their speeches in the past decades, traditionally delivered in the first days of October to open what is known as the forensic year.

This time, the government was quick to reply. Two new judges and two new magistrates are soon to be appointed, the Justice Ministry said in a statement a few hours after it heard the Chief Justice’s complaints.

The aim, the ministry said, “is to continue to increase the efficiency of the courts and strengthening the judiciary”.

Even here, we’ve heard it all before.

Yet, the appointment of new judges and magistrates does not necessarily mean that the problems will go away. If anything, we already know that the law courts building is too small for the amount of work that needs to be carried out. Adding four members to the Bench will increase space and logistical problems.

We still have too many cases that drag on for years, when the matter could be resolved in a much quicker way. We still have too many cases that end up before a magistrate or judge when they could easily be resolved around a table. (A steady rise in the population inevitably means a bigger workload for our courts). And we still have a system that is not built for speed.

Sometimes it’s the prosecution’s fault, sometimes it’s the defence. Sometimes it’s one or more parties involved that have an interest in seeing delays. Sometimes the blame lies with the magistrate or judge in the way his or her agenda is organised, including the scheduling of different cases for the same time on the same day.

It is then the responsibility of the government to give the law courts all the resources that they need. Appointing judges and magistrates – these days it happens through a nomination process, rather than picking and choosing – is only one way through which the system could be improved. A better distribution of the cases will help, but then the judges and magistrates also need to have other resources that enable them to work faster and more efficiently.

The fact that, for example, at present there is not enough space for judges to work on the same day is already one reason why there is a delay. Of course, the members of the judiciary use this time for other matters related to their job, but this logistical issue does not help to speed up the process. The Chief Justice suggested that criminal cases could be handled outside the main building. That’s one solution.

It is, then, not ideal that people who have cases before the Family Court – which are mostly of a personal nature – have to wait outside in the street. The privacy of the people involved in Family Court cases should be afforded more respect.