Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I call on this House to request the Minister for public expenditure, national development plan delivery and reform attend to provide an update on the national development plan, specifically on the court services. In my area, the courthouse in Roscommon was moved to a temporary premises in 2022 to enable work to start on the courthouse when funding became available. The temporary courthouse was furnished to house the court sittings but always with the view that it was temporary. Since then, a number of issues around acoustics and capacity have been highlighted with that temporary facility. I remind the House that the courthouse in Roscommon is a fine building in a prominent location. It is accessible to the Garda station which is just beside it. Therefore, it is important the money is spent on that premises for it to be brought up to the required standard. I appreciate that this cannot take place immediately but we need to start the work and it needs to be started soon. Will the Minister show the people of Roscommon what the works will be and when they will start? If there is no movement on that, additional works will be needed at the temporary courthouse in Roscommon to address both the acoustics and the capacity issues.