Kerry court sittings cancelled as garda tests positive for Covid-19

Tralee Courthouse. Picture Denis Minihane.

District court sittings in Kerry have been cancelled for a number of days, and members of the legal and Garda professions may be asked to restrict movements or self-isolate, after a garda who was in court in Tralee found out he had tested positive for Covid-19.

The incident shortly before lunch led to the immediate closure of the weekly district court in Tralee and the adjournment of a number of cases.

The garda got word during a brief interval shortly before lunch that he had tested positive for Covid-19 and immediately informed practitioners and left the building.

Judge David Waters ordered the immediate adjournment of the weekly sitting of Tralee District Court in Ashe St, Tralee.

Deirdre Mulcahy, courts office manager in Tralee, confirmed there was a situation and she was dealing urgently with the matter.

Padraig O'Connell, who was one of the solicitors involved in the case in which the garda was also involved, said the whole situation was "extremely disconcerting".

"We don't know when the court will be sitting again," he said.

There were fewer than 15 people — the maximum number allowed under the social distancing restrictions — in Courtroom 2, the district courtroom in Tralee, when the positive test result came through.

These included the court registrar and the judge, as well as a number of solicitors and gardaí.

A spokesperson for the Courts Service said protocols, including those such as contact tracing led by the HSE, were being implemented. As well as that, the Courts Service itself had risk response teams for the courts around the country.

The Garda Press Office said the Health Service Executive is the lead agency for health-related questions and statistics on Covid-19, including sector-specific statistics.

An Garda Síochána will not be providing commentary on the individual status of any members of An Garda Síochána or individual Garda stations or sections, it also said.

There is currently no impact on the services of An Garda Síochána, it added.

Earlier this week it emerged most of Kerry's 28-member traffic division are restricting their movements after attending a training course in which a member from another division tested positive for Covid-19.

Courts in Kerry have been severely impacted already by Covid-19. There are currently no trials in Kerry because of a lack of facilities for juries. District courts are limited, with court lists given specified and staggered times to comply with health guidelines.

There is a considerable backlog of cases to be dealt with, and around 4,000 summonses — some going back as far as March — have yet to be issued in District No 17, as in many other districts, because of the protracted times.