Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a timely debate. I received an e-mail from a friend of mine suggesting that if court services go to Kilkenny, Waterford will lose the courts into the future. Members employed in the Courts Service have made such suggestions even though people in the Courts Service also said there was no prospect of the extension going ahead. There will be a €31 million investment in the Courts Service. We should embrace the good news and welcome the €31 million investment. I share the concerns of Senator Cullinane with regard to replacement courthouses while the new structure is being built. It is essential that Waterford retain services in the short period of one and a half years. The suggestion I have heard that the courts will never come back to Waterford if replacements are not found is scaremongering. I am not suggesting Senator Cullinane is doing so, but those concerns are unfounded.

I do not know whether the Courts Service falls within the Department of the Minister of State, but railings have been knocked down in front of the courthouse for over a year. We are trying to have them repaired and the Courts Service has been putting it off for a long time. We are celebrating 1,100 years in Waterford next year and we hope to have the railings repaired by the Courts Service or the OPW so that we can celebrate our 1,100 years and embrace the changes, including the €31 million investment in the courthouse and the €10 million or €15 million to be spent on the building housing the fire service, which the courthouse will take in. The fire service is being moved to the Ballybeg area, which is in urgent need of investment. We should embrace the €50 million investment in Waterford and celebrate it, expecting that these services will be maintained in Waterford while awaiting the completion of construction.