No funding in budget for much-anticipated new courthouse for Kerry 

Tralee Courthouse: 'It now seems that for years to come the people who use the courts complexes in Kerry will be forced to endure Dickensian conditions,' Tralee solicitor Canice Walsh said.

No funding has been set aside for a much anticipated new county courthouse for Kerry in Budget 2024, the chief executive of the Courts Service informed the Kerry Law Society this weekend.

The news has come as a shock to legal circles in Kerry, which has been awaiting the transfer of a county council site in Tralee to the courts service.

The courts service agreed to purchase a half-acre site on the western side of Tralee for €160,000 over a year ago.

The Law Society in Kerry had recently expressed its frustration that "a straightforward purchase" and fairly simple conveyancing matter was taking so long.

"The entire courts infrastructure across Kerry is grossly inadequate," the society said this weekend, calling on Education Minister Norma Foley, TD for Kerry, to advocate on behalf of courts services across the county.

The family law service is now at risk in Kerry and looks set to be transferred to Limerick to comply with the terms of the new family courts legislation, the Law Society said.

"It now seems that for years to come the people who use the courts complexes in Kerry will be forced to endure Dickensian conditions," Tralee solicitor Canice Walsh said.

Mr Walsh, who spearheads the subcommittee for the new courthouse, said with no funding assigned it would now take "a minimum of two years" for a new courts complex in Tralee to kickstart.

The Kerry county town is among the last in the country to see its facilities upgraded — neighbouring Cork and Limerick have had substantial investments and new court complexes. 

There is a suspicion in legal circles the continued neglect of Kerry will lead to the loss of much of the county’s historical legal businesses.

In an email on Thursday, in response to queries from the Kerry Law Society Courthouse Subcommittee, Angela Denning, chief executive of the Courts Service, said the transfer of the Island of Geese site to the courts service was expected to close "in the coming days".

However, Ms Denning added: "With regard to the timescale for development of the new facilities, unfortunately the Courts Service was not provided with capital funding in Budget 2024 to progress this project."

The current National Development Plan is funded to 2025.

"Discussions" are expected to commence in 2024 for funding for the next period of the plan and Tralee will be included in those discussion, Ms Denning added.

A spokesman for Ms Foley this weekend said the minister is to raise the matter with the Department of Justice on Tuesday.