State solicitor: Gardaí being prevented from attending courts due to cutbacks

A senior state solicitor has claimed court cases are being adjourned because gardaí are being prohibited from attending them due to cutbacks.

Malachy Boohig, who has been a state solicitor for the past 26 years, said: “I have requested gardaí to attend courts only to be told that they will not, or cannot do so because senior officers prohibit such attendance as a result of cutbacks.”

The state solicitor for West Cork, said he had no reason to believe the situation was not being replicated countrywide.

Mr Boohig said “it has made prosecutorial work difficult” and this would get worse if proposals to centralise courts in larger population areas went ahead.

He also outlined these sentiments in a submission to the Courts Service, which wants to transfer sittings from Skibbereen, Clonakilty, and Kinsale to Cork City.

He said if the proposals were enacted, it would mean gardaí would have to travel greater distances.

In that event, he believes Garda management will instruct more and more gardaí not to attend court sittings.

He said it had not got to the stage that prosecution cases would be lost because Garda witnesses were not turning up, but he said adjourning cases “upset victims hugely”.

Garda John Parker, president of the Garda Representative Association said management was trying to schedule gardaí on duty on days their court cases were being heard.

He said due to cutbacks management was reluctant to pay gardaí overtime to attend court on days off.

“As manpower decreases this will become more of a problem,” Garda Parker said.