asked the Minister for Justice whether he is aware of the great hardship imposed on litigants, jurors, etc., who, in some cases, are compelled to travel practically fifty miles to the Cork Circuit Court, and whether it is now proposed, in view of the fact that the Bandon Courthouse will be shortly reconstructed, to hold the sittings of the Circuit Court in Bandon, and, if necessary, to amend the Circuit Court Rules to permit of this being done.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - CORK CIRCUIT COURT SITTINGS.
I am not aware that great hardship is imposed on litigants or jurors by reason of the fact that the Circuit Court does not sit at Bandon, which is within one hour's journey of Cork by train, and as the volume of business arising in Bandon and the adjoining district is not such as would justify the holding of sittings of the Circuit Court in that town, it is not proposed in the Rules of the Circuit Court to prescribe Bandon as one of the places in which the Court shall sit.
Mr. MURPHY
Will the Minister consult the local Gárda Síochána and the local professional gentlemen on the matter, and will he take into consideration also the fact that even if the Circuit Courts were established in Bandon, litigants would have to travel twenty or thirty miles to Bandon, thereby involving on them a journey of over fifty miles?
I am informed that the people around Bandon are of a particularly non-litigious character. Possibly the Deputy would not dispute that.
That is because they have no Court there.
I do not know that; there cannot be a Circuit Court in every town. Circuit Courts are really the successors of the old Assize Courts, and we are trying to work out the matter satisfactorily for every part of the country.
Mr. MURPHY
I have personal knowledge of the hardship incurred in these cases, and I ask the Minister to consider the matter again in the light of information that I can obtain locally.
If the Deputy gives me any further information, I will consider it very carefully, but I can tell the Deputy that at one time the people from Bandon had to come up to Dublin to have similar cases to those now dealt with at the Circuit Court heard.