The scaling back of Ireland’s courts has continued as Courts Service staff endeavour to promote health, yet maintain rights.

Courts.ie will carry real time updates on the courts situation during the coronavirus crisis.

The Central Criminal Court list to fix dates will take place on Monday 30 March in court six at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin 7.

Custody

There will be no requirement for persons on bail to attend and anybody in custody will be dealt with by way of video link. 

If solicitors wish to attend for clients on bail, they may do so.

It may be advisable for solicitors to attend for any client in custody. 

Notification to solicitors of the trial date will be by way of email.

Each case will be dealt with separately, one by one in the courtroom.  

Video links and the courts

Both the High Court hearing bail applications, and the Cloverhill District Court have increased the volume of video-links to Cloverhill Prison, and across the prison and court systems.

Both courts have amended their day-to-day practices to better suit the video-link system and relieve pressure on Cloverhill Prison staff.

Unprecedented

In an unprecedented move the High Court bail list has agreed to:

• manage lists maintaining a maximum of eight cases per hour,
• stick strictly to the order of the list and,
• introduce voice-only equipment to the Cloverhill video-link area to manage the increased volume of calls from legal representatives.

Throughput

These elements make the throughput of prisoners manageable and predictable for the prisons, and limit numbers in court at anyone time.

The District Court in Cloverhill is working with the Irish Prison Service to: 

• organise the running order of the video-link cases based on security and prison requirements and,

• to operate the list in groups of five, also allowing the prison to manage the throughput of prisoners needed in court more easily, 

• a second court sat in Cloverhill, today in a separate courtroom to support managing the (in person) list.

These measures, cumulatively, should significantly reduce the pressure on managing prisoners in the Cloverhill video-link area, given security and social distancing needs, the Courts Service says.

Added to these measures, there is active promotion of video-link for professional visits for solicitors and barristers in order to allow social distancing be maintained