Galway’s court sittings are set to be held in a new state of the art city centre building from next year.
The current court building at Courthouse Square is one of the beautiful buildings in the city, but has proven totally inadequate for the purpose of a modern busy court.
The Advertiser has learned that that negotiations are at a very advanced stage for the court services to move into a new office block being built close to the city centre.
The new office block will not be completed until the middle of next year, but already extra provisions have been made to ensure that it is extra secure and can cope with the demands of a modern court house.
The building will also share office space with several other businesses — although some of this office space has not been put on the rental market yet.
The new courthouse will have the use of a massive underground carpark where Garda vans will be able to drive without having to run the gauntlet of the awaiting media.
At present, defendants and witnesses have to walk past reporters, photographers, and TV camera crews to enter the Galway Courthouse.
In the new building, they will be able to use more discreet entrances to get the courtrooms.
The news comes as there is speculation that court sittings are to increase in Galway with several small county district courts to be shut down and the cases transferred to the city.
This would mean that courts would sit for an extra day in Galway, making it one of the busiest courts in the country.
Already it is believed that negotiations have taken place with the builders to ensure that adequate car parking will be provided to allow prisoners to be transported to and from the building in complete secrecy and safety.
A spokesperson confirmed that the court service is looking for a new location in Galway for a courthouse, but declined to comment on possible locations.
