COUNCILLORS have once again called for court cases not to be heard at the courthouse on Main Street, Portlaoise.
For well on 20 years, public representatives of all hues have been calling for the courts to be taken from the centre of town. Last week it was the turn of councillors from the Portlaoise Municipal District.
Cllr Noel Tuohy asked that the council “call on the minister for justice to expedite the agreed relocation of Portlaoise Courthouse from Main Street to a more suitable, safe and appropriate location”.
The meeting was told that local TD and foreign affairs minister Charlie Flanagan has arranged a meeting with Courts Service CEO Brendan Ryan and local Oireachtas members to discuss the matter on Thursday 26 February.
Cllr Tuohy, a former prison officer, also sent his best wishes to the two prison officers who had been stabbed the previous day at Tallaght Hospital, as did the other councillors, who were present at the meeting. They also agreed to send a letter to the head of the prison service and also to the Prison Officers’ Association expressing their abhorrence at the attack on the two officers.
He went on to say: “People who attack prison officers are not heroes, they are cowards.”
Cllr Willie Aird also called for the relocation of the courthouse, saying that he had received phone calls from traders along Main Street informing him that they had to close their businesses the day the last public order disturbance occurred outside the courthouse.
He said he had been present at that time and “witnessed people jumping up on top of squad cars. It was terribly unfair for children to see what was happening that day”.
“It’s got to the stage now that people are so afraid that they can’t walk down one side of Main Street when the courts are on. That courthouse has outlived its time in its present location. It seems to be getting worse there. It’s not a suitable location, with people smoking and drinking cans and verbally abusing passers-by. People are saying that you can’t go on Main Street from 10am to 4pm on court days,” said cllr Aird.
Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald said: “It’s an absolute disgrace with what is going on there. People are afraid to walk up or down Main Street. This has been going on for years, not just last week.”
Cllr John Joe Fennelly: “It’s just not a suitable location. End of story.”
Cllr Mary Sweeney: “It was absolutely horrendous what happened there lately. The whole behaviour outside the courthouse was despicable. Even before the courthouse is opened, gangs of small children with their parents congregate around it. The behaviour of some of them is terrible, running in and out and up and down the street.
“The latest fracas caused mayhem. People are not coming into Portlaoise on court days. The biggest losers in all of this are the traders.”
Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley stated: “On a weekly basis, businesses along Main Street have to hire in extra staff, with very little business taking place, only shoplifting. We were told that holding cells were gong to be put into the courthouse. That tells me that the courthouse is going to remain where it is. We need to get it off the Main Street.”
