THE ongoing backlog in the north's court system caused by the Covid-19 pandemic may not be cleared until 2028, Stormont's justice minister has warned.
Without extra investment, the aim of clearing the backlog by 2024 will be missed, Naomi Long has said.
The minister has claimed new legislation would be required to increase the number of non-court disposals - in which less serious cases are resolved without the need for a court appearance - that would clear the backlog, but that cannot occur without the Assembly being restored.
Ms Long told the BBC that the backlog remained a "serious issue" that may not be resolved for up to six years without financial aid.
She said extra financial support that was issued to help public services recover from the pandemic allowed the court system to operate at 110 percent capacity for a period.
"That money has now stopped. Unless we get extra investment - instead of seeing the backlog ended by early 2024, we could be looking at 2028 before we're in that position," the minister said.
In January of this year, Ms Long revealed there were around 11,900 defendants waiting in the court system, compared to around 7,300 at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.
She said that options to ease the pressure on the struggling court system were limited without a functioning Assembly.
"We would like to increase the number of what are known as non-court disposals - less serious cases that in terms of volume take up a lot of court time, but could be dealt with in other ways," she explained.
"We would need new legislation to do that."
The DUP has said it will not return to Stormont and establish an Executive without changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The justice minister also warned that progress on recommendations in a review on how the north's justice system deals with sex crimes was also being hindered by the lack of working devolved institutions.
Over half of the 253 recommendations in the review by retired judge Sir John Gillen have been fully or partially implemented.
However, Ms Long added: "Many of the societal changes which Sir John recommended can't be driven by my department alone, such as issues around relationships education, and culture in organisations.
"I'm determined to do all I can, but it is challenging when you don't have a functioning Executive in place to bring it all together."