The Gazette 1995

GAZETTE

concentrating the existing

problems in fewer centres, will

serve only to increase the

perception of inaccessibility and

remove the administration of

justice further from the people

whom it is designed to serve.

9. Any economic consideration on

which the proposal is based is

surely misconceived. The public

pay for the cost of litigation and,

clearly, the public must find it

cheaper to litigate in their own

locality rather than having to go

further afield. The expense of

transporting litigants, their

witnesses (including Gardai,

doctors, engineers and lay

witnesses) from local areas to a

centralised venue can only serve

to increase the cost of litigation.

In bringing justice to the people in

Circuit Court venues, the

additional costs (payable by the

State but, ultimately, by the

public) are limited to travel

expenses payable to the Circuit

Court judges and upkeep of the

Circuit Court buildings.

Compared to the costs and gross

inconvenience of transporting all

parties to a litigation action to a

centralised venue, any saving in

travel expenses payable to Circuit

Court judges must be minimal.

The costs of maintaining

courthouses exist whether or not

the Circuit Court venues remain as

at present as, in the vast majority

of cases, these courthouses serve a

dual purpose as a District Court

or, in some cases, a community

centre. While the Society would

concede that there may be an

element of cost in maintaining the

existing Circuit Court

arrangements, it would argue that

justice should not suffer to

achieve a minimum of

expediency.

10. The Society acknowledges that

there may well be certain limited

venues which might be identified,

in consultation with the local Bar

Associations and local community

interest groups, where the

necessity for Circuit Court sittings

might be discontinued. Those

limited venues could only be

MARCH 1995

identified following the fullest of

consultation at local level. The

Society has received submissions

from local Bar Associations which

detail the impact that the Working

Group's proposals would have on

those areas and these submissions

have been furnished to the

Working Group. On a social level,

the Society also acknowledges the

detrimental effects that the

Working Group's proposal would

have on the fabric of rural Ireland.

11. There is a constitutional

perspective which, in the

Society's view, casts doubt on the

constitutional validity of the

proposal under consideration.

Article 34 of the Constitution

provides,

inter alia,

as follows:-

"The Courts of First Instance shall

also include Courts of local and

limited jurisdiction."

Article 34 has been interpreted as

referring not only to the District

Courts, but also to the Circuit Courts.

That being so, it is doubtful that,

should the Working Group's proposal

be adopted, the Courts thus established

could be deemed to be "local" within

the meaning of Article 34.

12. The Society is very much in

favour of finding a solution to the

problems that exist in the Circuit

Court. These problems exist due

to the high volume of work and

have little or no relationship to the

geographical situation identified

by the Working Group. The

Society would assert that, in

addressing the acknowledged

difficulties at Circuit Court level,

the Minister for Justice should:-

(a) appoint a sufficient number

of judges to deal with the

volume of work; and

(b) provide suitable facilities in

the existing venues to enable

the judiciary, the legal

profession and Court staff

carry out the work efficiently

for the benefit of the public

and the administration of

justice generally.

Compensat ion

Fund Payments -

January 1995

The following claim amount was

admitted by the Compensation Fund

Committee and approved for payment

by the Council of the Law Society at

its meeting in January 1995.

IR£

2,889.00

Diarmuid

Corrigan,

6 St. Agnes Road,

Crumlin,

Dublin 12.

Compensation

Fund Payments -

February 1995

The following claim amount was

admitted by the Compensation Fund

Committee and approved for payment

by the Council at its meeting in

February 1995.

David Fitzpatrick

19 Main Street,

Blackrock,

Co. Dublin.

IR£

5,400.00

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