Judge says full-time criminal court needed in Mayo

A FULL-time criminal-court judge in Mayo is needed to cater for the increased workload of cases appearing before the Circuit Criminal Court in the county, according to a sitting judge.
Judge Eoin Garavan made the comments during the sitting of Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court last week. He had just been asked to fix a special sitting before the scheduled October sitting of the court to hear a trial that could last up to two weeks.
Mr Patrick Reynolds, counsel for the DPP, said that the trial involving three defendants who are charged with assault causing serious harm and false imprisonment would ‘destroy the sessions’ if it were to take place during the scheduled October sessions. The October sessions of criminal cases are due to start October 3 and last for four weeks.
Judge Garavan said he was not sure if the special sitting could be facilitated, but accepted that the current system is not dealing with the increased number of cases before the court.
“There really needs to be a full-time judge in Mayo and one-and-a-half in Galway. The reality is work has grown exponentially where you have over 100 cases in waiting. That was never heard of before. The old fashioned two- or three-week session doesn’t hack it.
“If you look at the 2023 returns it is extraordinary and that is the way it is. Having a case like that squeezed into a vacation sitting is fine, but it doesn’t deal with the principle of the problem. It gets over one hump but it is a bigger issue,” he commented.
Judge Garavan’s comments were supported by members of the legal profession who were present in the courtroom, with Mr Reynolds pointing out that the volume of cases has increased in recent years, even without taking into account the delays caused by Covid-19.
Mr Reynolds added that he had no proposals for the court to solve the ‘bigger issues’ and was merely trying to solve the problems facing the prosecution.
In relation to Mr Reynolds’s application to allocate two weeks to the special sitting, Judge Garavan said he had listened and would ‘report back next week’.

Barristers’ strike
Meanwhile, the court was put on notice that barristers have indicated they will go on general strike in October if demand pay reforms for those working on the legal aid scheme are not met.
Barrister Diarmuid Connolly informed Friday’s sitting of Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court that his colleagues wished to express solidarity with his ‘brothers and sisters’ in Dublin who were protesting against the ‘failure of the Government to restore fees going back a number of years’.
Mr Connolly said that he agreed with the Bar Council’s position that criminal legal aid fees which were cut should be restored, and that if this were not done there would be a general strike on October 3.