THE State's legal experts were scrambling yesterday to find ways to determine if the hundreds of District Court sittings held annually in ballrooms and bingo halls Fare legally valid.
Department of Justice officials are confident that the use of non courtroom venues will prove legitimate, but the question will probably have to be resolved by the High Court.
The crisis was precipitated last Wednesday by a judge holding hearings at a hotel in Milford, Co Donegal. Judge Thomas Fitzpatrick struck out 250 summonses, saying there were questions over the validity of the court because there was no planning permission for hearings to be held in the hotel.
In Dunleer, Co Louth, yesterday another judge adjourned his court to consider the planning question.
Yesterday ministerial orders were signed directing that all hearings of Donegal District Court be held in court buildings. The orders were signed by the acting Minister for Justice, Mr Bruton, the Minister for Enterprise and Employment. The Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, is visiting gardai in Bosnia and Cyprus.
The orders were considered necessary because Judge Fitzpatrick was due to sit again today in a non courtoom venue in Co Donegal. Officials were examining last night whether similar orders are needed for all counties until the planning issues are clarified. About 100 of the 276 venues used by district courts throughout the State are not courtroom buildings. The Government has sought legal advice from the Attorney General, Mr Dermot Gleeson, while the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Eamonn Barnes, has received a report on Wednesday's events in Donegal from the Garda. Mr Gleeson or Mr Barnes could seek a High Court order or declaration supporting the validity of "ballroom justice".
Non-courtroom venues are used only occasionally - perhaps once or twice a month - and may be exempted from normal planning procedures under 1993 regulations. Legal sources suggested yesterday it was unlikely that all sittings not held in courtrooms would be deemed invalid.