Courts ‘owe more to Dickens than Dúchas’

THE Courts Service has clashed with the Law Society over criticisms its president made of delays in family law cases and courthouse conditions which she described as Dickensian.

Geraldine Clarke made her comments in a speech at a Law Society meeting in the Courts Service’s newly-renovated showpiece courthouse in Sligo where she lamented that other courthouses were in a “woefully dilapidated condition”.

She said many district and circuit courts had no consultation rooms or waiting areas and that parties, their witnesses and legal representatives had to wait around in corridors “almost on top of each other” until their cases were reached.

“It is little short of a disgrace that in the year 2003, the majority of our fellow citizens have to seek justice in cold, damp courts that owe more to Dickens than Dúchas,” she said.

She also claimed some family law cases faced delays of up to two years, a situation she described as outrageous.

She called for the immediate appointment of additional suitably trained judges to sit in the worst affected areas to tackle the backlogs.

But the Courts Service mounted a vigorous defence in response, saying that in the three years since it was established it had refurbished 25 courthouses, upgraded 24 others and carried out some form of improvement at 100 court venues and offices in total at a cost of more than €100m.

Spokesman Gerry Curran said all the refurbishments in county towns included private family law facilities, separate waiting areas and dedicated consultation rooms.

He also said three new family law courts had been provided at Smithfield, Dublin, and investors were being sought for a public-private partnership for the construction of a 10-court Family Law Centre at Ormond Quay.

Mr Curran also refuted Ms Clarke’s depiction of waiting lists for family law cases. He said waiting times for judicial separation and divorce hearings averaged four months in most parts of the country and in Dublin, where 40% of all cases were heard, the waiting time was four weeks and under 12 weeks if contested.

“In several areas of the country there are waiting times longer than desirable but the resources have been put in place to tackle these,” he said.