Martin Kenny
Ceist:783. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the estimated cost of providing video links to each prison to assist the Courts Service. [18443/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 28 July 2020
Ceisteanna (783)
Freagraí scríofa
Under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, management of the courts, including the provision of accommodation for court sittings, is the responsibility of the Courts Service which is independent in exercising its functions.
However, in order to be of assistance to the deputy, I have had enquiries made and the Courts Service has informed me that it operates a significant video-link estate, with video link solutions currently installed and operating in 60 courtrooms nationwide, with a further 5 courtrooms to have video link solutions installed and provisioned in August 2020.
The current base installation cost of a courtroom video link solution is in the region €48,000 (inc. VAT). The cost per courtroom video link installation is impacted by site variances including size, layout, and the extent of remedial wiring required.
All Courts Service video link enabled courtrooms are currently configured to seamlessly connect with all video link enabled prisons. From April 2020 to date; the Courts Service, working in coordination with the Irish Prison Service, have facilitated in excess of 5000 video appearances in courtrooms.
Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, video-link usage has seen significant growth and the Courts Service expect this to grow further in the coming years.