Sinn Féin claims that judges are unwilling to travel outside Dublin to hear cases rejected

The judge managing the Central Criminal Court has described as “simply incorrect” claims by Sinn Féin TD Martin Kenny that judges are unwilling to travel to Limerick and other regional venues.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott said judges travel to all areas of the country to hear cases “when that is possible and courts are made available”. He said he had “repeatedly requested” that a court in Limerick be made available to the Central Criminal Court, and expressed frustration the Central Criminal Court is “effectively excluded” from Limerick’s “extensive” court facilities.

The High Court judge made his comments in a letter, seen by The Irish Times, to the president of the High Court, copied to other Central Criminal Court judges and the chief executive of the Courts Service. It is understood the judge will publicly raise the matter in court on Monday.

The letter is a response to comments by the Sinn Féin spokesman on justice when asking the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, in the Dáil on Thursday about additional judicial appointments. Mr Kenny told the Minister there were new court buildings in Limerick, but “most of the time courts there are not being used” and people were taking the train to Dublin “when adequate facilities are in place in their own city to provide services”.

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“That situation is replicated in many areas around the country. I am told that a lot of that is because the judges do not want to travel from where they are based and because of the shortages [of judges].”

The Minister, who is expected to receive within weeks the report of a working group on judicial resources, responded that more judges were needed and she was committed to providing them.

She said part of the working group’s review, in addition to an independent review she has commissioned from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) of judicial resources, was not just looking at how many more judges were required but at how there could be greater efficiencies within the system.

In his letter dated last Friday, Mr Justice McDermott said: “Martin Kenny TD is reported today in The Irish Times as having made a statement to Dáil Éireann to the effect that judges are not willing to travel to hear serious criminal cases in Limerick and other venues outside Dublin, and that as a result witnesses and victims are required to travel to Dublin.

“This is simply incorrect,” he wrote. “The judges of the Central Criminal Court, as you are aware, travel to all areas of the country when that is possible and courts are made available. I have repeatedly requested that a court in Limerick be made available to the Central Criminal Court. The court, pre-Covid, regularly sat in Limerick and has been at all times willing to do so.

“There is no reluctance on the part of High Court judges to travel or sit in Limerick or any other venue. I continue to be frustrated by the fact that the Central Criminal Court is effectively excluded from the use of Limerick’s extensive facilities.

“I think that it is quite wrong that this statement should have gone unchallenged. Since the beginning of this legal term judges have been assigned to trials in Cork, Waterford, Mullingar, Tullamore, Kilkenny and Monaghan, and other venues will be available later in the term.”

It is understood that due to serious backlogs in the Circuit Criminal Court the hearing of cases before that court are being prioritised in the state-of-the-art Limerick courthouse.

The Central Criminal Court, which deals with serious crime, takes in about 220 new cases a year and is also battling a substantial backlog. Cases involving vulnerable witnesses and victims are prioritised, usually getting a hearing date within six months of coming into the Central Criminal Court list. People in custody can expect a wait of one year for a trial date, but those on bail may not get a trial date before 2024.