James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is understood and I thank Ms Denning. I agree with her sentiments and those of the local authority on the town centre location. It is a fine building. It has a common facade with the Old Bailey. It is an impressive building and it dominates the landscape on the main street. There are certain retail and hospitality benefits to having that activity on the street. I agree with keeping it in the centre of the town.

There is a common theme that some of our courthouses are perhaps less well served than others. The District Court is the workhouse of the court facilities and processes a large number of cases. The committee approved Estimates for the Department to enhance courthouses during Covid and put in place Covid protections. Ahead of today's meeting I took some soundings from practitioners and people who frequent the courts to see what issues had arisen. Tallaght Courthouse was mentioned. Several things were said to me. One is that the bar room is locked and not available to practitioners. Even during lockdown people have to robe or go in and go out or stand on the steps to have consultations and speak with each other. Wi-Fi is not turned on or not activated. At any event, it is not available to practitioners. I know of at least one barrister who was exposed to Covid on the premises despite all of the protections the committee signed off on to prevent this from happening. I can pass on the details if it is of interest. That court in particular came up in a few stories that were recounted. As I said, I took some soundings ahead of today's meeting and the feedback was not good, particularly in the context of Covid where additional supports had been given. I do not know whether Ms Denning wants to respond to this. It is something we can pick up offline if she would prefer.