Ms Angela Denning:

Again, the challenge is space. Our Covid response has differed in every courthouse in the country because every courthouse is different and the internal space has determined what can and cannot be done. Our concern with regard to criminal trials has been jury deliberation space and jury empanelling. Where that has not been possible in the courthouse, we have sought off-site facilities. We sought them in Tralee. We thought we had a venue in Tralee but it transpired we could not use the technology that was required in the venue, which was the only venue. We assessed several venues in the town. What happens in October may change jury sessions for next term, but jurors have been summoned for Limerick for the Tralee sessions for the five weeks and no jurors have been summoned for Tralee. That is a challenge because it takes a number of weeks to get a jury panel into place. It takes a minimum of six to eight weeks to call jurors.

Just because all the restrictions are lifted on 22 October does not mean we will revert to having a couple of hundred people packed into a courtroom on the following Monday morning. I am responsible for the health and safety of all workers on Courts Service premises. That is not just my staff and judges; it is also the staff in solicitors' firms and staff in An Garda Síochána, the Prison Service, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and so forth. I have to provide them with a safe working environment. Therefore, it depends on the advice we get at the time. Given what I heard Professor Nolan say on the radio last week about the risk involved with indoor crowded settings with people you do not know, we will have to take a careful and cautious approach, certainly for this term given how high the numbers are at present.