The district court will no longer be sitting in Lismore.
The courts service has confirmed to WLR News that they are withdrawing their monthly sitting there, which will instead be held as an all-day session in Dungarvan.
They say there's currently not enough business in Lismore to justify assigning a judge for a full day.
A spokesperson explained:
"Over the last few months consultations took place between the Courts Service and Judge O'Shea in relation to the business conducted in Lismore Court. At present Lismore sits only 1 day per month.
Following these consultations the Judge directed that for now, Lismore District Court would not sit in Dungarvan: from 3/5/22 until further order.
The reasons behind this direction is that there is currently insufficient court business in Lismore to justify assigning a Judge for a full day. This allows the court hear a full day’s business in Dungarvan, including and beyond that which would be heard just in Lismore.
It will also allow the best use of Video Technology in Dungarvan, which is in the next phase of courts to be given a technology upgrade, further adding to the efficiency of the numbers of cases heard."
Big financial loss
However, the loss of this sitting will be felt by Lismore Heritage Centre, to whom the courts service pays around €5,000 a year to rent the space.
Mealla Fahey is the Manager of the centre:
"The court has been sitting here since 2003, since we did up the new court room. They put a lot of money into this building.
"They also paid towards the utilities every year so, for us, that helps a lot with the Heritage Centre and with funds.
"They are our anchor-tenant, as such. We would have other people renting the rooms upstairs but that will be a big financial loss to us."
Local councillor, John Pratt says it's disappointing to see it go:
"To me it's another retrograde step. It's another blow for a rural town that has only recently lost one of its banks as well.
"I just believe there's a spinoff from the one sitting - it may have been only once a month but to a small town like Lismore, it meant that people were eating in local restaurants as well when they were actually attending the court."
That's a sentiment that is also echoed by Mealla, who feels the likes of local cafés and eateries will feel the loss too:
"When [barristers, solicitors, and Gardaí] came into town on that Friday, they needed to have lunch, they needed to have coffees, they strolled around and had a look at different shops.
"So, for small businesses around town - winter or summer - there was always a Friday once a month where you were going to have an influx of people that you wouldn't normally have, which was always good.
"It will be a big loss."
Retrograde step
The courthouse itself, which now belongs to the Heritage Centre, was originally built around the turn of the 19th century, c. 1815, before being refurbished in the 1880s.
A casualty of the War of Independence, that structure was largely destroyed by fire in 1920 and underwent more restoration and refurbishment works into the 1930s.
The heritage centre has been situated in the building for 30 years now, having opened in 1992 and serves as one of the main draws for visitors to the town.
Councillor John Pratt says he would hope something could be done to reverse the courts service's decision to withdraw from Lismore:
"It's just one of those things that irks me, you know what I mean? That these things are happening... why is there no potential for people to engage in the process?
"That it can just be pulled without any thought put into the effects."
