No set date for courthouse work
THE Courts Service cannot provide a precise date for when works will begin at Wicklow Courthouse despite earlier reassurances that work would start last year.
At the start of 2018, it was announced that Wicklow Courthouse would be included in the ten-year capital plan, clearing the way for demolition works that would allow for a planned extension, with the works due to start during the opening months of the year.
However, these works never took place.
The building has been sitting vacant since 2010 when the district court moved to Bray due to health and safety concerns at the courthouse. Circuit court sittings had already relocated from Wicklow to Bray in 2008.
Deputy Pat Casey raised the matter during Parliamentary Questions and requested a status update on the refurbishment and reopening plans for Wicklow Courthouse.
In reply, the Department of Justice stated that developments in relation to Courts Service accommodation requirements, including Wicklow, are outlined in the Government’s recent National Development Plan 2018-2027.
According to the reply: ‘ The precise allocation and timing of additional funding over the entire ten-year period remains to be fully determined. It will be dependent on the outcome of further detailed planning and analysis of costs which will determine prioritisation of projects from a timing and budgetary perspective’.
The Courts Service has indicated that while detailed planning or design work has not yet commenced, it has purchased a number of adjacent properties. Some of these will be demolished in order to create a larger site capable of accommodating a courthouse consisting of four courtroom venues together with a range of facilities for staff, the judiciary, persons in custody, jurors, legal professionals, other state agencies and members of the public.
The statement concludes: ‘Assistance has been sought from the OPW in this regard and it is hoped that demolition work will proceed in 2019’.
Deputy Casey is disappointed that none of the works have yet to take place.
‘There was a commitment given last year that demolition works would start early in 2018. That never happened and now we are told the works might start early in 2019. I hope this hasn’t been kicked down the road again, especially with the Capital Expenditure cuts the Government are looking for. That end of Wicklow town where the courthouse is located could do with a real boost and a functioning courthouse would certainly assist. The people of Wicklow have already had to cope with their only hotel becoming a centre for direct provision so I would hope the Department of Justice would deem it fit to sort out the courthouse once and for all,’ said Deputy Casey.