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THE Courts Service has stated that the Courthouse on Ashe Street will not fall into disrepair if a new courthouse is to be built elsewhere in Tralee.
At the meeting of Tralee Municipal District of Kerry County Council on Tuesday, Cllr Jim Finucane asked that the Council sell the designated site for a new Courthouse facility for the full market value as a matter of urgency.
In reply to the Fine Gael councillor, Council management stated that the clear preference of the Council is that the Court Services are provided into the future at the existing location and this has been clearly indicated to the Court Services.
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Management stated; “However, mindful of the Court Services position regarding potential difficulties on delivering on this option and mindful of the need to keep the services of the Courts in Tralee town, the Council has reviewed options with the Court Services with The Island of Geese being one such option reviewed.
The Court Services have stated, following a recent meeting the CEO, Ms Angela Denning, that they will require a building significantly larger than the existing courthouse on Ashe Street to facilitate increased sittings of the High Court, including the Central Criminal Court, in Tralee, where they have also stated that a site at the Island of Geese is their preferred solution.
If the Island of Geese option were to proceed, the court services have confirmed that the courthouse on Ashe Street would continue in use by the Courts Service in the medium term as it would take a number of years to acquire funding to proceed to procurement and construct a new courthouse.
The Council in this regard, has been very clear with the Court Services at all times that any proposal to be put before the Members of the Tralee Municipal District for consideration will require that the existing Courthouse is restored and maintained, given the iconic nature of the building.
In this regard, the Court Services have stated that they have no intention of allowing the building to fall into dereliction and following a request from Kerry County Council, they confirmed their cooperation in any future regeneration scheme, relating to the courthouse,” concluded the reply.
Any proposal to build a new Courthouse on local authority land would need to be approved by councillors at a full meeting of Kerry County Council.
