INISHOWEN'S court
system is buckling under the weight of criminal,
family and civil cases.
That's according to a Donegal senator who said the
county circuit, of which Buncrana, Carndonagh and
Moville, are a major part, is in urgent need of a
second permanent judge to join Judge Desmond Zaidan.
Senator Brian O’Domhnaill made that call this week
to Justice Minister Brian Lenihan.
“The president of the Donegal Bar Association has
outlined clearly the existence of a large backlog in
the circuit court and district court services and
both the president and the association have called
clearly for the additional resources that are
required to deal with the backlog," said Senator O
Domhnaill.
The Donegal Bar Association has said that visiting
judges for special sittings cannot deal adequately
with cases that last more than one day, such as
cases involving family law, child care or land
disputes - all of which constitute highly sensitive
legal situations, said the senator.
“In 2007, the scheduled sittings provided for a
total of 63 days in the Donegal district. I
understand from information given to me by the
Donegal Bar Association that the allocation for 2008
has been reduced to 56 days.
“I call for the early implementation of the
recommendations to appoint a second district court
judge, as well as the allocation of a second
permanent judge in County Donegal.
"This would relieve greatly the current stress that
is on the system, would facilitate those families
waiting for their sensitive cases to be heard and
would reduce the backlog.”
On his last day presiding at Letterkenny District
Court before his retirement, Judge John O'Donnell
called on the Courts Service to carry out an
immediate audit of the existing services in County
Donegal.
“As a worst case scenario, if the judges cannot be
put in place immediately, I call on the Minister to
carry out such an audit.
"The intervention of the Minister is required to
provide those citizens of County Donegal who bring
forward cases with the facility to have them heard
in a prompt and timely manner,” added Senator O
Domhnaill. |
