Gabrielle McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being so late in arriving to the meeting. It is a sign of the good times that the traffic is so bad. I was 35 minutes later than I thought I would be and I am sorry about that. I was anxious to get here in time to ask Mr. Ryan a question. I also welcome the Government's capital infrastructure investment and the plan for the Courts Service. What process is used by the Courts Service when it undertakes a reconfiguration of courthouses or arrangements? Mr. Ryan might have dealt with this already.

I wanted to ask the question but had not intended to be parochial. However, given that everybody else has been, so will I.

Is there any consultation with service users, namely, barristers and solicitors? I ask because in County Westmeath which forms part of my constituency there is a temporary courthouse in use in St. Loman's in Mullingar and we will, I hope soon, see work being done on the courthouse. Although we have a perfectly fine courthouse in Athlone, it has been decided that family law cases will be moved to Mullingar, while the court in Athlone will concentrate only on repossession cases. Anybody who uses the service in Mullingar for family law cases would regard it as not fit for purpose. There is an adequate courtroom, a hallway and a very small waiting room, but no consultation rooms. Family law is very sensitive and delicate and it is inappropriate to have people discuss their cases in a hallway, beside a football pitch or in the solicitor's car. The Courts Service of Ireland is moving family law cases to Mullingar from Athlone where there are five good, well used consultation rooms, yet there was no consultation with service users.