Briefing Document Re:Proposed Closure of Suburban District Courts in Dublin

BRIEFING DOCUMENT RE:PROPOSED CLOSURE OF SUBURBAN DISTRICT COURTS IN DUBLIN. The Dublin Solicitors Bar Association which represents almost 3000 solicitors in Dublin oppose the closure of the District Courts in Dublin because: a. the closures do not achieve a financial benefit for the state and they will, we believe result in increased expenditure for a poorer service when you consider the increased costs for the Gardai, loss of Garda time and the increased costs and inconvenience for court users. b. In addition the closures will reduce access to justice for the users of the District Court system, many of whom are the most vulnerable in society such as single mothers seeking maintenance for their children who will have to attend the court office in the city centre to apply for legal aid and then appear in court on at least one more occasion. Very often these mothers have been directed by social welfare to apply for maintenance and if the fathers do not turn up as the court then a bench warrant will issue which causes further costs to mount up for the courts system and ultimately the exchequer. ‘ c. It is not clear whether the courts service have fully costed the effects of the closure of the District Courts in Dun Laoghaire, Tallaght, Balbriggan and Swords to Garda resources nor have they examined the wider social costs associated with the closure of the District Court in Tallaght, Dun Laoghaire, Balbriggan and Swords. ‘ Closure of the Dublin District Courts does not make economic sense nor is the public’s access to justice protected by the closures of District Courts in Swords, Balbriggan, Tallaght and Dun Laoghaire The Courts Service recently notified the Dublin Solicitors Bar Association that following a review of courts services in the greater Dublin areas they propose closing the remaining District Courts currently serving Dun Laoghaire (pop. 206,000), Tallaght (100,000), Swords (68,000) and Balbriggan serving Skerries, Rush, Lusk and Garristown (50,000). The District Court in Blanchardstown (also 68,000) will now only deal with road traffic matters for the greater Dublin area. The rationale given is to maintain the efficient administration of justice without impacting on access to justice. The Dublin Solicitors Bar Association believe that neither aim will be achieved by the closure of the suburban District Courts. On a very basic level, the proposed closure of the suburban Courts does not make economic sense. Equally importantly both the administration of justice and access to justice will suffer as:- 1. Conviction rates will drop due to witnesses being unable or unwilling to travel to Blanchardstown or the CCJ (Courts of Criminal Justice) complex in the Phoenix Park. This will undermine the system of law and order in Dun Laoghaire, Tallaght, Balbriggan and Swords. 2. There will be substantially less Gardai available locally for normal policing duties due to extra travel and time spent in Blanchardstown or the CCJ. 3. Juvenile offenders will be cast into a busy system based in the north inner city at a vulnerable stage in their lives. The probation service has previously opposed the centralisation of juvenile business from Dun Laoghaire 4. There will be an erosion of Garda presence in the suburban areas along with increased costs to Gardai of getting convictions, travelling to attend court and more seriously an anticipated huge cost of enforcing warrants against those who fail to appear in Court. The amount of warrants issuing for non attendance will increase due to greater distances to be travelled by litigants and/or due to the costs associated with such journeys. 5. It will disadvantage local businesses who will lose substantial custom, it will hugely inconvenience and discourage witnesses and others in the courts system from attending court or from accessing justice. 6. The already overcrowded family law courts in Dolphin House will be flooded with additional applicants from the Balbriggan and Swords area who will have to travel up to 1 ½ hours on public transport. Most of those who apply to the District Court in family law cases are seeking access/maintenance/custody/guardianship for their children and many are on legal aid which means that they will be faced with a serious challenge just to get to the court in the city to start the process and then a further challenge to get to court to attend the hearing on the day or days it is listed. In addition it is likely that the responding person may not take the time to travel which will result in the issuing of a bench warrant, further delays and costs to the Court and the Gardai and to the person seeking the relief from the Court. If the current proposals are implemented District Court litigants would be forced to travel to the Courts of Criminal Justice, the Children’s Court, Dolphin House or another court in the Four Courts complex from these areas. A new specialised Road Traffic District Court is proposed for Blanchardstown. Just before Christmas 2013, the DSBA, the Law Society and the Family Lawyers Association successfully campaigned against the proposed move of the Family High Court from the Four Courts to Blanchardstown, partly on the grounds of its inaccessibility for litigants. In addition if Blanchardstown is inaccessible for High Court litigants, litigants in District Court matters are much less much likely to be in a position to drive to Blanchardstown. Blanchardstown is not best served by either rail, Luas or bus services and the legal difficulties a defendant will face may pale into insignificance compared with the logistical nightmare of attempting to get to Blanchardstown for 10.30 am on a Monday morning using only public transport. As appears to be standard practice it is the least well off who will be worst affected by the proposed axing of the District Courts. While the DSBA, which represents over 3000 solicitors in Dublin and started life in 1935 as ‘the Dublin Circuit and District Court Association’ is opposed to the destruction of the existing remaining District Court structure in the suburban Dublin area, we were initially allowed less than 3 weeks from the date of the letter notifying us of the proposed changes to have submissions with the Courts Services. The Court Service then will attempt to have the matter decided themselves within a further 5 weeks. This smacked of making the decision first and having your consultation afterwards. Following extensive correspondence the Courts Service extended the time within which they will make their decision to September 2014. It is to be hoped that we do not now live in a market society where everything is measured by its price and not its value. These ill-considered reforms to the District Court bear all the hallmarks of penny wise, pound foolish and will put the family, criminal and civil systems in Dublin city centre under severe pressure if enacted. CONTACT DETAILS Keith Walsh DSBA President [email protected] 086 857 6499 Local Members of DSBA Taskforce on the proposed closure of the District Court Chairperson Matthew Kenny Blanchardstown Matthew Kenny [email protected] Dun Laoghaire Jonathan Dunphy [email protected] Tallaght Michael Hennessey [email protected] Balbriggan Donogh MacGowan [email protected] Mary Arnold [email protected] Swords Lorna Shannon [email protected] .

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