Physical court sittings are to last for no more than two hours in each day pending “urgent advice" being sought by the Courts Service from health authorities.

This follows advice given to the Houses of the Oireachtas before a committee meeting yesterday (Tuesday) about people who may be in the same room for more than two hours, even though they are practising social distancing.

Unaware

A statement from the Chief Justice and other presidents of the courts said the Courts Service was unaware, until yesterday, of what appeared to be additional safety considerations beyond those already published.

The judges said a plan to expand the number of physical court hearings following disruption by the pandemic had taken full account of all published advice.

Remote hearings

They said the new guidance “clearly has the potential to affect the conduct of court hearings or sessions likely to involve judges and registrars, together with others, being in a courtroom for more than two hours in a day”.

The decision to limit court sittings does not have any effect on remote hearings, which will continue as planned.