Judge hits out at ‘Dublin mandarins’ for planned closure

A judge has criticised Dublin-based “mandarins”, detached from the reality of life in rural Ireland, for advocating the closure of a district court in one of the country’s top tourist towns.

The Courts Service has included Kinsale, Co Cork, among a list of court venues to be closed.

However, Judge James McNulty, who sits on the bench in District Court No 18, which includes south-west Cork, said: “District court venue closures may be justified in other towns and places in the State — but not in Kinsale.

“It is difficult to comprehend the proposal by management of the Courts Service to close Kinsale District Court. This is proposed for reasons which cannot be objectively justified on grounds of economy or efficiency, or otherwise.”

Twice-monthly sittings of the court are conducted in the town’s community-run Temperance Hall. Speaking from the bench, Judge McNulty said: “Kinsale is one of Ireland’s premier tourist towns, one of the gateways to beautiful West Cork. Kinsale is a popular destination for visitors local, national, and international. Among all the good and welcome visitors to Kinsale, there are occasionally those who come here and who misbehave. Those who commit offences in Kinsale are prosecuted promptly and efficiently in this local district court.”

Although his comments came at the end of a case where four women had been charged with assault causing harm to another woman in an early morning disturbance, the judge said: “Kinsale needs a regular district court, not because it is so bad but, on the contrary, because it is so good.”

He described Kinsale as a national treasure which “needs to be cherished and protected by the vigilant maintenance of good order in a special place”.

He said: “It should not be abandoned by mandarins in Dublin who seem to be increasingly detached from the realities and necessities of life in rural Ireland.”

The West Cork Bar Association has backed Judge McNulty’s pleas on the rationalisation programme, which affects a number of court venues in Co Cork.

During the sitting, Kinsale-based solicitor Tony Greenway said on behalf of association members that he concurred with Judge McNulty’s comments.

The Courts Service strategic plan for 2011-2014 said rationalisation would “ensure court business be transacted in locations which provide appropriate facilities for all court users”.

A Courts Service spokes- man said the service did not, as a rule, comment on remarks made by a judge.

However he emphasised that the rationalisation plan was not drawn up by the Department of Justice.

In past comments, however, the Courts Service has told the Irish Examiner that the best use of resources was of paramount concern, “in the current climate of reduced availability of public monies”.

Court business has increased nationwide by 40% in the last five years and a spokesman had stated: “The service is working to maintain service levels in an environment of continually reducing staff numbers and other resources.”

Meanwhile, the Courts Service is to make a decision, by the end of the month, on the proposed closure of nine court venues in Cork, Offaly, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, and Wicklow.