Family Lawyers Association raises concern over childcare court move

Seán Ó hUallacháin SC, chairperson of the Family Lawyers Association, told Irish Legal News that the building is “quite a forbidding place, quite a creature of its time, and a lot of work would have to be done to create the proper environment in the 21st Century to hear childcare cases”.

He said judges sit at a considerable height in the courtroom and the building still contains a tunnel from which prisoners emerged from the cells underneath.

He added: “It’s difficult to see how it can be configured properly. Now, maybe an imaginative architect from the Office of Public Works will come up with something.

“It’s not just the courtrooms. These cases are very sensitive - they can be very alarming in some cases. You can have the parents, each of the parents separately represented, the child there and the HSE involved also, and you need an awful lot of facilities in terms of consultation rooms.”

Mr Ó hUallacháin said the issue has been “brewing since mid-September” and that the Courts Service has been “very friendly and co-operative” on the subject.

The Association has met with court officials and sent a two-page letter to the Courts Service setting out its concerns.

A spokesperson for The Bar of Ireland said they had also submitted a letter of support for the position of the Family Lawyers Association.