Public faces new security checks at the Four Courts

The days of the public being allowed to walk through the grand entrance of the Four Courts building to witness justice at close hand will come to an end for security reasons early next year.

The Courts Service said last night that access through the main doors of the Gandon-designed Four Courts and of the nearby Áras Uí Dhálaigh will be closed as part of new security arrangements to be introduced from January.

Members of the public will also, in future, have to undergo security checks and have their bags electronically scanned before being allowed to enter the Four Courts complex.

The Courts Service said the new measures were being put in place as "a response to an ever-changing security climate and environment". However, a spokesman for the Courts Service said that there was no specific security threat to the Four Courts complex.

Under the new arrangements the public will only be allowed to enter the complex through new security pavilions at Morgan Place and at the door of the Circuit Courthouse at Chancery Place.

Handbags being carried into the complex will be electronically scanned at the entrances.

Judges, barristers, solicitors and legal staff will be exempt from having to pass through the electronic scanners.

However, they will have to apply for special cards and to pass through new "turnstile/kiosks" which are to be installed at the entrance to Morgan Place, Chancery Street, the judicial car-park at Chancery Place and at the Circuit Courthouse at Chancery Place.

The Courts Service has written to legal firms in recent days seeking applications for access cards.

Solicitors and legal clerks seeking access cards for the Four Courts will have to produce passport photographs stamped at a Garda station.

The Courts Service said there was no question of restricting public access to the courts but of organising this access so as to ensure the safety and security of all who use the building.

"The range of measures to be put in place in early 2005 will substantially improve security in and around the Four Courts complex," the spokesman said.