Vol. 429 No. 5
32 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice if she has considered the possibility of locating a courthouse in the northern suburbs of Dublin in order to make the courts more accessible and, in particular, to cut down on Garda time attending city centre courts where there is a real problem in the scheduling of cases to minimise the loss of Garda time.
I have yet to be convinced that whatever financial advantages might accrue in terms of saving Garda time would outweigh the capital and other costs of building a courthouse in the northern suburbs of Dublin. Moreover, it is by no means certain that there would be a saving in Garda time because the current centralised courts minimise the necessity for Garda to travel between various court locations to present their cases.
There are a number of pressing demands from local authorities for funds for the refurbishment of existing court-houses, some of which are in poor condition. These remain the priority for the disbursement of capital funds for court-houses.
