Just one applicant for position of district court judge
Judge O’Donnell earned acclaim for the huge volume of work he managed to deal with during his term at Limerick District Court.
Many district court judges, who at present have no designated district court area and move from area to area, have declined to put their names forward for the Limerick position due to the work load involved.
At present Judge Eamonn O’Brien is dealing with most sittings of Limerick District Court.
Judge O’Brien lives in Limerick and is being widely tipped to be appointed to fill the vacant Limerick position.
He is a qualified barrister and solicitor.
Prior to being appointed to the bench, he served as coroner.
Gardaí and solicitors believe that Limerick has a sufficient work load to make it a two-judge district court area.
However, due to cutbacks, it is unlikely that the city will be assigned a second judge in the district court.
One solicitor said: “We understand that the plan now is to appoint one permanent judge who will keep the list moving by dealing with non contentious cases.
“Contentious cases pose a huge problem as a single case could go on for hours.
“It now seems a back-up judge will be appointed to deal solely with contentious cases and when these cases are called they will be put back to a set week every month where another judge will sit to deal with these cases. This will allow the main sitting of the district court to deal with the huge list without having to contend with the roadblocks presented by contentious cases. It would seem to be a good idea and would go a long way in alleviating the huge work load the court has to deal with at any one time.”
Judge Aeneas McCarthy, who was one of the foremost criminal lawyers at Limerick District Court before his elevation to the bench, is understood to be eager to continue working in various district court areas.
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