In March 1990 the Government decided that local authorities should be relieved of the financial burden of providing and maintaining courthouses and that the cost should in future be borne by the Exchequer subject to a limit to be agreed annually between the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Justice.
A sum of £3.2 million was provided for this purpose in the 1991 Estimates. This provision was reduced to £1 million in the Financial Review of July 1991. A sum of £1.25 million was provided for each of the years 1992 and 1993.
Because of budgetary constraints, it has not been possible to defray the costs incurred by local authorities in maintaining courthouses and the capital building programme for courthouses has been restricted to those areas where need was greatest.
A number of courthouses throughout the country require renovation. Because of the limited availability of financial resources, priorities are being established in my Department between the different premises requiring attention. Progress has not been as rapid as I would like it to be but I am confident that the next few years will see substantial improvement in the standard of court accommodation throughout the country.