€4m facility holds first court session
Tuesday September 07 2010
IT WAS THE START of a new era in Gorey last Thursday, as Gorey District Court opened at its new home at Gorey Civic Centre.
It brought to an end almost 200 years of court sittings at the old Courthouse building which dates back to 1819, and has, as far as anyone knows, always been used for local court sittings.
The new €4 million facility contains all the latest modern conveniences, and as Chief Clerk Deirdre McCarthy explained last week, it includes three consultation rooms for solicitors and clients; a foyer waiting area; a secure interview room; a garda room; a legal practitioners' room; two prisoner cells; public toilets, the court clerk's room and the judge's chambers.
The main double height courtroom, with its wood panelled walls, carpeted floor, and matching wood furniture throughout, includes a sound loop system for the hard of hearing; a video evidence screen; and a PA system to allow the clerk call cases in the surrounding rooms.
There is also basement access for prisoners to be brought up to the court from secure vans.
The new courthouse was a joint project by the Courts Service, Wexford County Council and the HSE, which shared the building with the court.
The Civic Square also includes a state-of-the-art library, due to open shortly, new Council offices, a new Council Chamber, and new VEC adult education facilities which are already in use.
Gorey District Court routinely sits three times a month, and also for numerous special, out of hours, sittings. It might have been a new court term in a new venue, but the schedule for the day's sitting was as busy as ever, with Judge O Buachalla finally rising just before 5.30 p.m.
- FINTAN LAMBE
