Mr. Brendan Ryan:

Yes. In fact, nobody was in favour of them, other than the Courts Service. We took all of these submissions into consideration when we were preparing the report for the building committee. The process, as I outlined, is that the report goes to the building committee and then to the board with a recommendation.

We recommended to the building committee that this matter not be progressed further. Proceeding with the closures would have had significant consequences for other justice agencies and we considered, based on their concerns, that the closures should not take place. Some 12 members of staff in the outlying venues mentioned would have come into the centre and while the savings in the cost of maintenance for the Courts Service would have been around €300,000, there is no doubt the closures would have caused difficulties. The courthouse in Dún Laoghaire is a fine venue and while there are issues with the courthouse in Tallaght, it is not bad. The courthouses in Swords and Balbriggan are poor venues that need significant investment to bring them up to acceptable standards, but we do not have the money. There is still an issue, but we accept the point on the submissions made, as the Courts Service is open in this manner.