Minister confirms closure of district courthouses

DISTRICT COURTHOUSES in Ballymote, Boyle, Templemore, Kiltimagh and Claremorris are to close early next year, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has confirmed in the Dáil.

He said the Courts Service board last week approved the closures, including Ballymote, where hearings will move to Sligo town.

The district courthouse in Boyle, Co Roscommon, will be amalgamated with Carrick-on-Shannon. Circuit Court sittings in Boyle will move to Roscommon town. The district courthouse in Templemore, Co Tipperary, will move hearings to Thurles, while court services for Kiltimagh and Claremorris in Co Mayo will in future be dealt with in Castlebar.

Castleisland, Co Kerry, and Athenry, Co Galway, do not have courthouses but hearings take place in “unsuitable premises” and will be relocated, with Castleisland sittings ceasing from December 1st.

Defending the closures, the Minister said the Courts Service board had amalgamated 140 district courthouses over the past 12 years.

But Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Dara Calleary criticised the lack of consultation with solicitors and judges who worked in these courthouses. They were also told in the case of Kiltimagh that the closure was “for efficiency reasons, not cost-saving reasons”.

The Mayo TD said, however, that “there are extra costs for gardaí travelling, prison issues and extra subsistence costs”. He asked if any cost-benefit analyses had taken place and if they would “be published or put before the Oireachtas committee on justice”.

Mr Calleary said the affected courthouses were in rural areas and there was no rural representation on the subcommittee dealing with the buildings. Mr Shatter said if there was no such representation it had been “calibrated” by his predecessor but he would investigate the issue.

The decisions to close a courthouse “are generally taken due to its poor conditions”, he said.