Cork to get new courthouse for criminal cases
Plans are being prepared for the development of a site behind the existing Cork District Courts building in Anglesea St.
It is envisaged that the Washington St courthouse complex, refurbished in recent years at a cost of €25m, will mainly handle civil actions.
The proposed revamped new building will deal with district court cases from the city and greater Cork area, but it will not be a centralised venue for all criminal cases.
No firm decision has been made on whether it will facilitate Circuit Criminal Court and Central Criminal Court matters, which are currently dealt with in Washington St.
The proposed project would lead to a complete revamp and redevelopment of the Anglesea St courthouse, which wasformerly the site of the Model School, built in 1865, and completed in Italian-style architecture.
Confirming the new project, the Courts Service said an undeveloped site at the rear, used for car parking, will also be utilised for the new structure.
The Anglesea St building currently has four courtrooms, believed to be inadequate for the amount of criminal case workload envisaged.
A spokesman for the Courts Service said: “The Office of Public Works is currently working on a design for the Anglesea St project. While the design has not yet been finalised, it is expected all the courtrooms, six in total, will be in a new development on the site to the rear of the model school.
“This will allow for a sympathetic restoration of the former model school building, which can then be used to accommodate some office and other support functions.”
On completion, the new courthouse will be equipped with “separate internal circulation routes” for the public, judges, jurors and those in custody.
The Courts Service has also said that it will have more modernised facilities for vulnerable witnesses, victim support and other court users.
“At present, the facilities at both Anglesea St and Washington St are inadequate for criminal business,” the spokesman said.
“It is therefore envisaged that when the new Anglesea St facility is built it will deal with all criminal cases and the Washington St courthouse will deal solely with civil cases.”
It is also believed that the new courts complex will be built through a public-private partnership.
It is expected that construction will commence during 2015 and that the new Anglesea St courthouse will become operational the following year.
The Courts Service says it expects that up to 150 jobs will be created during construction.
It has emerged that the project is one of seven new courthouses planned nationwide.
“As the seven courthouses form part of a proposed public private partnership project, no up-front capital costs will be incurred during construction,” said the spokesman.
For the past year, the Courts Service has been in discussions with the Department of Justice and Equality, the OPW and National Development Finance Agency in order to progress the projects on a Public Private Partnership basis.
