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Court service move criticised

This article is from page 10 of the 2011-12-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG

A PROMINENT County Clare solicitor has strongly criticised the decision not to re-open a courthouse in Ennistymon, describing it as “an assault on rural society”.

Eugene O’Kelly, of O’Kelly Moylan Solicitors, said he will have to consider relocating his office from Ennistymon to Ennis, as a result of the decision.

The Courts Service has ruled that from January all north Clare court cases will be heard in Ennis Courthouse. In the past few years, the cases were heard in Kilrush Courthouse, but have now been moved to Ennis as part of plans to centralise the service.

A few years ago, court sittings moved from Ennistymon after the then District Court Judge Joseph Mangan argued that the venue, Teach Ceol, was unsuitable as it was cold and acoustics were poor.

At the time, the Courts Service looked for a new venue in Ennistymon and temporarily moved the hearings to Kilrush.

Mr O’Kelly, whose client base mainly covers West and North Clare, said he understood that North Clare sittings would eventually return to Ennistymon.

“I am dismayed to see it being closed without any consultation. I would see it as an assault on rural society. It is one more step in the continuous erosion of the fabric of rural communities,” he said.

Mr O’Kelly said that in 2008, there were 71 district court sittings in Ennis and this will increase to 120 next year.

“It is not that the workload has increased in Ennis requiring these sittings. Since 2008 Kilkee, Kildysart, Miltown Malbay, Lisdoonvarna, Corofin, Tulla and Scarriff were abolished. When they were abolishing the North Clare ones it was said a very good facility would be developed in Ennistymon,” he said.

“That’s 31 court sittings (Ennistymon and Shannon) simply being abolished. It’s an enormous inconvenience and disruption for people in outlying villages and towns in county Clare. People are being made travel further and further to access basic services.

“The loss of a court from a town takes from the prestige of that town. The whole town suffers,” he said.

He said the decision was “centralisation for the sake of centralisation”.

“I accept that economic times such as we have require savings but these savings shouldn’t be made at the expense of rural communities. Rural society is degraded the more services are centralised,” said Mr O’Kelly.

Two years ago, Mr O’Kelly – whose main base is in Kilrush – opened an office in Ennistymon and says the proposed re-opening of a courthouse in the town was a significant factor in this decision. He said he will now have to reconsider his business options, based on this latest development.

“It is of considerable importance to my practice because we have a large client base around Ennistymon. We will have to look to opening in Ennis,” he said.

He said he fears that further services will be eroded in rural parts. “If the court is gone from Ennistymon, will the next centralisation be the garda districts? Is it going to be reduced to a 9 to 5 district as opposed to a 24-hour station?” he asked.

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