Councillor and solicitor voices parking concerns over Letterkenny courthouse

A councillor and practising solicitor has criticised his colleagues on Donegal County Council for not anticipating the impact the new Letterkenny courthouse could have on parking.

Cllr Dessie Shiels told Donegal Now: “Whilst the new building itself is to be welcomed as a vast improvement on the existing courthouse building, there is no escaping the fact that mistakes have been made by the council in relation to the project generally.”

He drew attention to the council’s recent decision to demolish the town’s old fire station building, which is close to the site of the new courthouse, in order to designate the land for car parking.

Cllr Shiels said there was a “rush” to make the decision because of “the lack of public parking at High Road”, but added: “This of course does not disguise the fact that at the same time the new courthouse development, which will by the end of this year attract hundreds of extra persons and vehicles to the High Road area on a daily basis, will not provide any on-site parking on the site it now owns.”

He suggested the council should have worked with the Courts Service to relocate the new courthouse to a more suitable location.