Courts Service prepared to buy  alternative courthouse site in Tralee 'after four years of council inaction' 

Town's court facilities 'continue to require extensive upgrading'

The  Courthouse in Tralee.  Four court rooms – double the number in the current building – new jury rooms, legal rooms, consultation rooms, offices, press facilities and custody cells are urgently required.
Co Kerry. Picture Dan Linehan

The Courts Service is prepared to take matters into its own hands and acquire an alternative site for a courts complex in Tralee, its chief executive has warned, saying four years of negotiations with Kerry County Council on a site which the council first offered have failed to produce a result.

Angela Denning, chief executive of the Courts Service, acknowledged the pressing need for a new courthouse in a letter to the Kerry Law Society at the weekend, and notes how a search has been ongoing for a number of years.

Facilities at the present site on Ashe Street “fall short of what would be expected in a modern court building,” Ms Denning writes, saying Tralee is one of the few remaining county towns where court facilities “continue to require extensive upgrading” and the matter is one of urgency.

Of a number of sites, the town centre Island of Geese, a former bacon factory site given to the council, is the preferred option, the letter notes.

The council brought the Island of Geese site to the attention of the courts service four years ago, but since then there has been no progress, Ms Denning writes.

“Since the council brought the site to our attention four years ago the Courts Service has been keen to acquire a portion of it for a courthouse development and is prepared to pay full market value for it,” Ms Denning writes.

However the sale would require the approval of the full council and to date no motion has been tabled, she said.

“Despite ongoing engagement with the council over the past four years a definite way forward has not yet been found,” Ms Denning said.

“If matters cannot be brought to a satisfactory conclusion with Kerry County Council in the immediate future, the Courts Service will take steps to acquire an alternative site. Our objective is to secure a site in Tralee as soon as possible for all court business and you can rest assured we are endeavoring to do so,” she writes to Canice Walsh, solicitor, secretary of the Kerry Law Society.

The society has maintained a “venue neutral” stance but now wants a decision on the island of geese site.

Tralee has not benefited from a decade of major court upgrading around the country.

Four court rooms — double the number in the current building — new jury rooms, legal rooms, consultation rooms, offices, press facilities and custody cells are urgently required.

Trials which moved to Limerick and elsewhere during Covid are only returning at the end of June for a limited period after a two and a half year hiatus.

Tralee Councillor Jim Finucane said this weekend there needs to be an immediate decision and he hopes to bring the matter to conclusion. He has tabled a motion to sell a part of the Island of Geese “at market value” for the July Council meeting.

“The people of Kerry and the victims of crime are suffering,” the Fine Gael Councillor said.