Chief Justice Donal O’Donnell said there are “advantages and pleasures to working in such an historic building, but doing so should not come at a sacrifice to support, facilities or efficiency”.

Another premises could be identified “to house a modern administrative office and a judicial office system for the 21st century, while preserving this building for its core historic function of hearing cases”, he suggested.

“It is unusual, for example, in the modern world that a Supreme Court is not located in a dedicated building,” he also pointed out.

The top judge also used yesterday’s event to announce plans for a broadcasting pilot which will commence before the end of the year.

A short-lived pilot previously saw the broadcasting of Supreme Court decisions on two occasions in 2017. The new pilot will aim to “consistently broadcast hearings in the Supreme Court”.

The Chief Justice said: “This will not be and is not intended to be a very elaborately produced service. The resources of the Supreme Court of Ireland and the Courts Service would not allow for the production of a full state of the art video service as is provided in some other supreme courts, and we are therefore working on the best technical solution that we can offer.

“However, if the position is that the Supreme Court hears legal argument on issues of general public importance, my colleagues and I consider that arguments in such cases should be as widely available to the public as possible.”

He added: “There is, in my view, a very clear distinction between this type of hearing, and hearings in other courts, in particular trial courts, and I would not anticipate at this time that there would be, or should be, televising or streaming of proceedings in other courts.”

Northern Ireland recently began a broadcasting pilot which has seen the recording of some Court of Appeal decisions, though the recordings cannot be broadcast until legislative changes are made.