Cork lawyers lash out over courthouse

Lawyers in Cork lashed out at the authorities today saying that they were duped with the promise of a courthouse but all they got was a warehouse.

The stinging attack was made against the Cork Circuit Courthouse building on Camden Quay, Cork, where legal business has been conducted for the past three-and-a-half years since the Washington Street Courthouse was closed for renovation.

Incoming president of the Southern Law Association, Fiona Twomey, advised Mr Justice Vivian Lavan at the outset of the High Court sessions today that the building was prone to flooding and he may have to be rescued from his chambers if the weather turned bad.

She advised him to check the weather forecast before coming to work.

The High Court judge echoed the sentiments and said that the building was unworthy for the administration of justice.

“It is inappropriate that the administration of justice should be carried out in a garden centre,” Mr Justice Lavan said, in a reference to the fact that the building was a garden centre for many years before it was converted as a temporary base for Cork Circuit Court.

Father of the Cork Bar, Donal McCarthy BL apologised to the visiting High Court judge for having to sit in a building that was at best adequate but not what it should be.

Ms Twomey of the Southern Law Association went further and said it was entirely inadequate for judges, lawyers, members of the public involved in cases and those who found themselves held in the building’s holding cells.

“We were run out of Washington Street three-and-a-half years ago on the basis that the work was to start on the following Monday. We were duped by the authorities and continue to be,” she said.

Ms Twomey said the work is no closer to starting today than it was on that Monday in June 1999.

The Southern Law Association is considering the possibility of taking legal proceedings in relation to the matter.