Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

The Minister does not have direct responsibility for the Courts Service, but the service is responsible to the Minister and this House for its budget. I wish to raise a number of concerns that have been expressed about the specific closures outlined by the Minister. First, the users were not consulted. Even though they are represented on the board of the Courts Service the day-to-day users of the courts concerned, that is, the solicitors and judges who work in the courts, were not consulted in advance. Second, when they were consulted they were told, particularly regarding the closure of Kiltimagh, that it was being done for efficiency reasons, not cost saving reasons. When Deputy O'Mahony raised this issue with the Minister last week, the Minister undertook to find out if a cost-benefit analysis for the closure of Kiltimagh had been prepared to measure the extra costs that would be incurred. This would equally apply to Ballymote, Boyle, Templemore and the other venues. There are the extra costs for gardaí travelling, prison issues and extra subsistence costs. Has the Minister found out if those analyses were prepared and will they be published or put before the Oireachtas committee on justice?

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