The senior judge of the Central Criminal Court was praised in tributes from lawyers in Cork on the occasion of his last visit as a judge – and his own seven-word reply made his feelings clear about his forthcoming retirement from the bench: “There is nothing voluntary about my going.”

The planned construction of a criminal courthouse at Anglesea St, Cork, will create up to 170 building jobs.

A €21m plan by the Courts Service to build a new courthouse in Cork City is facing increasing opposition over fears it will lead lead to the closure of several district courts around the county.

A retiring judge yesterday blasted plans for a new €21 million courthouse in Cork.

AS someone who felt compelled to make two complaints to the Law Society in the past six years, I found the feature article by Eamon Murray, president of the Southern Law Association, a bit unreal (‘Legal profession deserves respect’, January 8).

ONE of the “finest lawyers of his generation” was among tributes made yesterday at Cork District Court to solicitor Gerrard McCarthy, who died unexpectedly on Tuesday last week.

THE country’s future solicitors will be able to undergo their training outside Dublin for the first time from the end of this year.

AN ALL-ROUND honours student who debated his way around the world while at college was named UCC’s Graduate of the Year yesterday.

A 28-year-old Cork man was found lying on his own bed with 13 stab wounds after he was murdered during a robbery, it was claimed today at the opening of the first murder trial in Cork city in the history of the State.

Liam Heylin and Eoin English

NEW technology allowing video conference-style international link-ups for court cases is being incorporated into Cork’s Washington Street Courthouse, which will be back in business by the end of January 2005. It is five-and-a-half years since the doors of the historic building closed for renovations.

FIONA TWOMEY may be president of the Southern Law Association, but she doesn’t know much about the manufacture and construction of timber frame houses (Irish Examiner letters, Nov 15).

Lawyers in Cork lashed out at the authorities today saying that they were duped with the promise of a courthouse but all they got was a warehouse.