Courthouse works to start this year
WORKS to get Wicklow Courthouse open again are expected to start in the coming months after the project was included in the ten-year capital plan launched last week.
Minister for Health Simon Harris received confirmation on Friday from Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan that Wicklow Courthouse will be included in the plan and demolition works to allow for the planned extension will start in the coming months.
The building has been sitting idle 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.
‘This is our county town and although it was absolutely necessary to refurbish the building and extend, the pressure this process has put on court services throughout the county is immense,’ said Minister Harris.
‘Bray is currently carrying the workload of both the Bray area and Wicklow town with very limited accommodation.’
The closure of the courthouse has caused a great deal of frustration locally, with Councillors and TDs critical of the Court Services’ decision to close the building and move all court services to an already over-crowded Bray Courthouse.
However, there appeared to be some light at the end of the tunnel as 2017 drew to as close after Deputy Pat Casey received a commitment from Minister Flanagan in the Dail that the courthouse would reopen once vital refurbishment works had taken place.
Deputy Casey believes a reopened courts service in Wicklow town will help revitalise the whole Market Square area.
‘Just before Christmas I received confirmation that there were plans for a four-court venue courthouse for Wicklow town, rather that just the two currently in place. Now that is backed in the Capital Plan.
‘The early indications are that progress may start this year with some demolition works. Obviously, the project has to go through the whole planning and procurement phase. Where refurbishment works have taken place at previous courts, it has usually taken between two-and-a-half to three years to complete,’ said Deputy Casey.
‘It’s great news and this is something I and others have been campaigning about for some time. It will also help revitalise that whole end of town, especially with the Town Hall set to reopen and the new library planned for the old Ulster Bank building.’
Minister Harris said that the works to reopen the courthouse will happen this year.
‘The Court Services have been a really significant loss for Wicklow town, also as the normal business that they would bring to the local economy is now taking place in Bray.
‘I was really pleased last year to receive confirmation that Wicklow is in the next bundle to be completed,’ said Minister Harris.