Results 3,081-3,100 of 3,891 for speaker:Pa Daly
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: I thank the witnesses for attending. I have one or two questions for Ms Matthews. I thank her for her presentation. Tralee court is part of the built heritage of Tralee town and was designed by a local apprentice architect, who was 16 years old. It was quarried from limestone in the centre of the town about 200 yd from where the courthouse stands. Ms Matthews mentioned the significant...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: So the preference is to keep the existing building if at all possible. Is that right?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: Is the witness aware that in any of the reviews conducted of the courthouses, a grade 1 example was indicated? She spoke about conservation legislation.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: I know a number of courthouses around the country have been refurbished, including Letterkenny and Limerick for example. What was the budget for the Letterkenny court and what kind of money was available for refurbishing the court?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: Is the figure for the site available? Was it owned by the State already?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: From reading the opening statement, I noted that 57% of the court venues seem to have been closed in the past 21 years. The witnesses accept that courthouses bring extra business to town centres and the average jury panel, which sits for a week or perhaps more, would be in the region of approximately 200 people.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: Those 200 people are in addition to gardaí, court staff, probation officers, legal professionals, witnesses, defendants and family members all coming to the centre of town. The witnesses are aware that towns have developed around courthouses. In Tralee there is Courthouse Lane, for example, and in Fermoy there is Courthouse Lawn. Many of the businesses around the area depend on...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: The number of prisoners coming to a court reduced by approximately half.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: The Courts Service discusses what constitutes value for money for the Exchequer but that is not the only consideration. The witnesses would accept that we must take into account the national planning framework, a new Government emphasis on the benefit to town centres, spatial strategies and climate and environment concerns, as referenced by Ms Matthews. There is also the question of...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: There were plans for wheelchair accessibility going back approximately ten years into the previous century. Wheelchair-accessibility has never been a feature of the courthouse.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: Right. A former Minister with responsibility for justice told me otherwise. Has any consideration been given to having the family law and civil courts in the existing court building and maybe the courthouse requiring juries in another part of the town?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: That is despite that in many other venues-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: This question is for Ms Denning as well. On the review carried out on the 60 courthouses, in the case of any of them, and Tralee in particular, was the review carried out by a conservation architect grade 1 as outlined in a suggestion by Ms Matthews?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: The review related more to preservation than refurbishment.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: Would Ms Denning look at it again, given the recommendations and the change of emphasis as regards town centres and spatial strategies? Before any decision is taken which may detrimentally affect the town centre, would she consider sending a grade 1 conservation architect to have a look at it to see what can be done? As Ms Denning has probably seen, there is a great deal of wasted space in...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: Ms Denning has been in Tralee courthouse.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: There was a budget of approximately €18 million for Tralee at one stage.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: Given the suggestion that before any decision is taken to take court services from the building, it should be carefully considered by a suitably qualified conservation architect, as recommended by the heritage department, would Ms Denning consider doing that?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Courts and Courthouses: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)
Pa Daly: Please do that.