Courts Service Made Decision To Close Birr Circuit Court
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Following the hugely unpopular decision last week to permanently close Birr Circuit Court, thus ending 400 centuries of history, many people were asking who made this decision? Was it the government and their belt-tightening recessionary philosophy? Or was it the Courts Service? Or was it a combination of the two?
This week a spokesman for the Courts Service told The Midland Tribune that it was the Courts Service acting alone which made the decision and it had nothing at all to do with the Government.
He said the Courts Service is an independent state body which is run by a Board on which sit members of the Judiciary and people from other walks of life.
The Board, he pointed out, conducts a yearly review of the courts system and they believed that Tullamore Circuit Court has 'vastly superior' facilities than Birr Circuit Court hence the decision to close the latter.
The fact that Roscrea District Court is being closed and moved to Nenagh has been met with dismay and anger, and it's planned to also move Borrisokane District Court to Nenagh. However, thankfully, according to the Courts Service spokesman, there are currently no plans to close Birr District Court and move it to Tullamore.
The spokesman said closing Birr Circuit Court and moving it to Tullamore does save money but the main reason for the change was that it will be a better use of resources.
The final sitting of the Circuit Court in Birr took place last week and it was pointed out that the history of a superior court sitting in Birr can be traced back nearly 400 years to the 1620s.
The State Solicitor Jim Houlihan said it was a very sad and bad day for South Offaly and pointed out that local people would much rather attend the sittings in Birr and not in Tullamore no matter how better the latter's facilities were. Mr Houlihan said justice should come to the people and it shouldn't be the other way around. He commented that in this instance justice was being made more inaccessible. He called the closure arrogant and anti-democratic and warned that any attempt to close Birr District Court will be strongly resisted.
The Courts Service spokesman commented that Tullamore had a major refurbishment and upgrade in 2007 and is one of the most advanced courthouses in the country. 'There exist many consultation rooms, waiting areas, holding cells and security features - as well as staff, judicial and legal practitioners office accommodation. It has ICT capabilities such as Digital Audio Recording and Video Conferencing. From the point of view of the security of prisoners and the public, the privacy and dignity of court users, and access to space and technology it is of world class status. It has all of the capacity to absorb the business from the Circuit Court in Birr - which sits periodically throughout the year'.
He also made a comment in relation to the transfer of business from Roscrea and Borrisokane District Courts: 'All venues being used for court sittings across the country are kept under constant review to ensure that, insofar as is possible, they meet the standard that court users are entitled to expect and also allow for best use of time and resources. This review is particularly relevant in the current climate of reduced availability of public monies, when the best use of all of available resources is of paramount concern. Every County and District is included in this review as court business has increased nationwide by 40% in the past five years.
'Such moves tend to free up judicial and staff time to deal with more cases, over full days, in busier locations. This helps us and the judiciary to further save time, reduce waiting lists to have cases heard, and in facilitating specific family law days, children's hearings and licensing courts more easily. This is particularly important when the Service is working to maintain service levels in an environment of continually reducing staff numbers and other resources.'
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