THE NEED to provide adequate resources to the justice system was highlighted by Chief Justice John Murray yesterday at the opening of the newly refurbished courthouse in Monaghan.
Mr Justice Murray said the essential and minimum resources required by the Irish judicial system were not always allocated in a manner which would meet the minimum standards of democracies throughout the world.
This was the case even in the “so-called good years” when huge extra resources were made available to other organs of the State, he said.
The courthouse, built in 1829, was refurbished at a cost of €8.5 million. Minister for Justice Brendan Smith performed the official opening. The latest upgrade of the building followed its earlier restoration after it was extensively damaged in an arson attack by republican extremists during the Troubles in 1981.
Mr Justice Murray said the functioning of the administration of justice depended on far more than simply capital, or building resources, but on the services and personnel, made available from day to day, in the management, hearing and determination of cases before the courts, which were vital to all the citizens involved. The courthouse would stand as a “monument to the history of Monaghan and a jewel in the heritage of its people”.