A judge has described a courtroom used by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court as "inhuman" and "disgusting". Judge Kevin Haugh said court 25 in the Chancery Street section of the Four Courts was far too hot and lacked ventilation. He ordered that a side door to the judges' rooms be opened and said that a door to the prisoner holding area should be kept open to facilitate the circulation of fresh air.
Judge Haugh made his comments before imposing a four-year sentence on a Dublin man who admitted threatening a 52-year-old woman with a screwdriver during a handbag snatch. The attack had occurred on Sweetmount Avenue, Dundrum on March 24th, 1998. Mark Kavanagh (21) of Mountain View Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin, also admitted an attempted syringe robbery of a shop assistant on Willow Road, Dundrum, on the same day.