Courthouse costs soared

BETWEEN 1995 and 2001, the scale and projected cost of the refurbishment of Cork Courthouse had escalated from an estimated €6.35 million to over €20m, the annual report of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General 2002 says.

The Courts Service rents properties mostly from the private sector to facilitate court business at a total annual cost of approximately €5.2m, with a negligible proportion of this being in respect of local authority premises.

The original plans for Cork Courthouse were revamped to provide additional accommodation. According to the accounting officer, the alternative, because of the increasing demand for the rapidly-expanding Cork area, would have required abandoning the existing courthouse and providing a new courthouse on a new site.