Solicitors trying to prevent courthouse closure

SOLICITORS FROM New Ross, Co Wexford, will go to the High Court tomorrow to try to prevent the permanent closure of the town’s courthouse.

In an unprecedented case, the solicitors have taken legal proceedings against the Courts Service of Ireland which has transferred sittings of the New Ross District Court to Wexford town – over 23 miles away. The solicitors claim that the Courts of Justice Act stipulates that court sittings should be within one mile of an area’s boundary.

They say that traditionally Co Wexford was divided into four areas for judicial purposes with sittings of the District Court being held in Gorey, Enniscorthy, New Ross and Wexford town. However, last year the Courts Service announced that all sittings of New Ross District Court were being transferred to a new facility at the Ardcavan Business Park near Wexford town.

The Courthouse at New Ross, a protected structure, has been in poor condition for some time and one solicitor described the building as “derelict” and in urgent need of refurbishment. In fact, recent sittings of New Ross District Court were held in a GAA clubhouse on the outskirts of the town because the courthouse was “not fit for purpose”.

Four solicitors who practise in New Ross – Declan Joyce, Paul Rogers, Martin Lawlor and John Flynn – successfully applied to the High Court for leave to take judicial review proceedings against the Courts Service executive’s decision. They will argue that the Courts Service has a statutory obligation to provide the town with a functioning courthouse.

Commenting on the transfer of the court sittings, New Ross-based Fianna Fáil TD Sean Connick expressed concern that the move reduced the number of gardaí on duty in the town on days when the court was sitting in Wexford and also created “significant extra expense” and inconvenience for court users — especially those without private transport.

He said that to access the new court by public transport meant taking a bus from New Ross and then “a two-mile walk” from the bus station in Wexford town to the Courthouse at Ardcavan.

Separately, the courthouse in Enniscorthy has also been closed – since 2007 – for refurbishment and sittings of the town’s District Court have also been transferred to Wexford town. The work has not yet been completed and there is no date scheduled for the re-opening of the courthouse.