A judge warned the Courts Service it was heading for an Office of Public Works (OPW) style disaster after spending €1.5 million on temporary court facilities in Co Roscommon.
In a message to service management, Judge James Faughnan queried the decision to provide just one courtroom in Roscommon Town when two were available in the old building.
The judge said he was sure the service would not want a “light shone” on its lack of foresight in providing sub-par accommodation at a significant cost.
Given the “recent OPW disasters” over the Leinster House bike shelter and security hut, which cost €335,000 and €1.4 million respectively, bad publicity was very likely, Judge Faughnan wrote in an email last September.
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Court sittings have been taking place at the former Fairyland Dance Hall, on the Racecourse Road outside Roscommon Town, since the town’s courthouse was closed in late 2022 after falling into disrepair.
The judge said he would “never dream” of going public but that the situation was likely to come to a head.
He said that when the temporary accommodation on the outskirts of Roscommon Town was being planned, he specifically asked that a second courtroom be provided.
“The Courts Service, while on notice of this, then spent over €1.5 million without providing a second courtroom,” he wrote.
“I can only imagine that if that got picked up by the media, there would be an awful lot of questions to answer.”
He said the expenditure on the temporary accommodation would be “laughable if it wasn’t so serious”.
In another message to court management last October, Judge Faughnan said the service had used up “all the goodwill” extended to them by legal practitioners working in Co Roscommon. He pleaded for a temporary second courtroom on the site, which he believed could be provided at little cost.
“It would lend itself to a timber frame type construction which could be erected speedily,” he wrote.
Judge Faughan was among three members of the bench who wrote to the Courts Service outlining serious concerns over their workplace in Co Roscommon.
Judge Kenneth Connolly wrote saying he accepted that the old courthouse in Roscommon Town had been shut down because it was in a “very poor” condition.
However, he said the new facility had “not performed” and was “unsuitable as even a medium-term option”.
He said there was little parking, nowhere nearby for jurors or the public to buy food or drink, and that facilities for victims were “questionable to poor”.
A third judge, Keenan Johnson, said the money spent on the temporary facility should have been used to restore the original courthouse.
“I have huge concerns that having vacated the courthouse it will now be allowed to deteriorate to such an extent that the feasibility of returning to it may be put in jeopardy.”
He added that they were now “stuck with the current totally unsatisfactory situation” of having only one courtroom.
Asked about the correspondence, the Courts Service said the old Roscommon courthouse had been closed by the OPW on health and safety grounds and that “significant investment” was required.
A spokesperson said the service took “immediate steps to remedy the situation to ensure, firstly, that the health and safety of all court users was prioritised and secondly, to ensure that sittings continue to be facilitated in Roscommon Town”.
The Courts Service’s submission in respect of the forthcoming revised National Development Plan includes a mention of Roscommon Courthouse, the spokesperson added.
