Dedicated complex for family law cases

The country’s top judge has said she was delighted that the Government had earmarked a site for the construction of a dedicated courts complex to deal with family-related cases.

Chief Justice Susan Denham said the location, in Smithfield, Dublin’s north inner city, was “in the heart of the legal quarter” and that the Family Law Court would provide the full range of facilities for “vulnerable families”.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said the project had been “spoken about for 20 years” and would now become a reality.

However, she did admit that it would take “some time to deliver” and said there was, as of yet, no timescale for completion or budget allocated.

The site on Hammond Lane was bought by the OPW in 2000. It is adjacent to the Four Courts and the Courts Service’s Phoenix House.

The complex will bring together the three separate centres for district, circuit and high court family cases into one building as well as mediation services.

“I’m absolutely delighted with this development,” said Ms Denham. “It’s something that we have been looking for for a very long time: to have a family law centre in the heart of the legal quarter, where all the services will be available to families who come into court.”

Speaking at the site, along with the Justice Minister and OPW minister of state Simon Harris, Ms Denham said these families were “very vulnerable” and that they need a lot more than the Courts Service.

Ms Fitzgerald said: “This is a project that people have spoken about for 20 years to bring the family law courts together on one site. I’m very pleased to say that we have agreement from the OPW.” However, she said there was no budget allocated as of yet and no timescale for when it would be completed.

She said that a feasibility study would be carried out by the OPW, adding: “There are a range of plans for the site. The budget will ensure we have the type of modern courts service and there are detailed discussions going on in relation to it. Obviously this is a project that will take some time to deliver.

“The feasibility studies will tease out the precise scale of the budget and indeed of the building itself and what’s required. It is a very large site.”

Mr Harris said: “Up until you actually have a site picked, it is obviously very difficult to work out costs and design.

“We now have a site. All of our teams can now collectively work together to try and put some concrete figures and timescale in place and we hope to move on that quickly.”

He said a design team would be appointed to conduct the feasibility study

. The site has been largely excavated and remains of a Viking house and medieval buildings were found there.

There has been intense criticism of the state of family law courts in recent years, particularly at district court level.

Last September, Women’s Aid said the district court at Dolphin House was “grinding to a halt” under a “tsunami” of work and chronic lack of staff and space.

Courts Service figures show there were 5,000 family-related applications dealt with in the district court in 2013, including 1,498 protection orders, 2,344 safety orders and 858 barring orders.

There were 2,095 new maintenance applications, 3,231 applications for interim care orders for children and 6,848 guardianship applications for children.