Fears that Youghal's court sittings 'will be the next to go'

Court Service to close office at Quay Lane later this year, but insists the town’s district and circuit court sittings will remain

Youghal's Court Service office, which is to close later this year. 

Legal representatives in Youghal fear the closure of the East Cork town’s Courts Service office will preempt the eventual removal of district court sittings.

The Courts Service is to close the facility at Quay Lane later this year, but insists the town’s district and circuit court sittings will remain.

Solicitor David Keane says the closure is “potentially a harbinger of closing the court” and feels a decision may be “already made in the minds of the people” administering the service.

He says the removal would create “difficulty” in a town with a court catchment of “about 15,000 people”.

Criticising the decision to close the office, State solicitor John Brosnan fears “the court sittings will be the next to go”, while solicitor Karen O’Shea strongly believes that “the court will close”.

Premises built in 2008

The three-storey Courts Service premises was built in 2008 under plans to link it by glass corridor following the restoration of the adjacent but closed Famine-era town courthouse.

Employing three staff (later reduced to two), it was leased in a 20-year agreement for €120,000 per annum, with an optional 15-year lease break that coincides with 2023.

The Courts Service invested approximately €1.2m in creating a high-standard facility, with office spaces, client consultation rooms, large conference space, lifts, kitchen, and toilets, inclusive of wheelchair access on all floors.

It also houses CCTV-monitored holding cells and high-speed broadband.

The affiliated facilities were never used, as the old courthouse plan was abandoned and the court sittings remained in the ‘temporary’, leased setting of the nearby town hall.

Subject of planning application

The office building is already the subject of a planning application by a Clare-based developer to construct eight one-bedroom apartment and one studio apartment.

The  Courts Service says the closure is due to “health, safety, and administrative reasons”, including concern for “two-person offices”, whereby one employee’s absence can leave the other “without back-up”.

It also says a vast increase in administration conducted electronically has substantially reduced footfall.

Administration will transfer to Cork city offices with Anglesea Street courthouse handling criminal affairs and family and civil issues managed in the Washington St courthouse.

The arrangement has attracted strong criticism that domestic violence victims needing immediate protection will be particularly disenfranchised by having to contact Washington St by phone or in person.

Alternatively, subject to the result of an internal health and safety risk assessment”, they can visit Youghal town hall on Fridays, where a court representative will process applications, with that arrangement to be reviewed after six months.

In a view shared by his peers, Mr Brosnan is concerned that “victims of domestic violence or abuse will no longer have ready access to court officials, who play a vital role in protecting the vulnerable and will have to travel, often with children, to seek help”.

Ms O’Shea says “many people won't have the means to get to Cork quickly”.

The Courts Service says “many family law court users prefer not to have their issues dealt with locally” and prefer to file forms at “main centres” and have “the matters dealt with in a secure and private setting”.