After months of speculation it has been confirmed that the District Court Office in Ballina is to remain open. The announcement was made by Fianna Fáil TD Dara Calleary, who revealed this week that he has been engaged in talks to secure its retention for the past 12 months. Deputy John O’Mahony has also received written confirmation from the courts service that there are no plans to close Ballina and transfer staff to Castlebar.
Plans to relocate staff to the county town were met with stiff resistance in Ballina by the various users of the courts service. Now, it appears, the campaign to keep the office in Ballina was successful but Dep O’Mahony is warning against any future efforts to centralise the courts service in Mayo.
“Interestingly, the letter I received states that there are no plans at this time to close the office in Ballina. Obviously, that means that there may be plans in the future to close the office but I’m saying now that any effort to do so will be resisted.
“The service is vital to the people of Ballina. It serves a huge geographical area and for the courts service to be considering relocating it to Castlebar just flies in the face of all logic. However, having said all that, I welcome this latest development and it’s good news for the staff of the office and the people who use it.”
The courts service have issued the following statement confirming Ballina’s situation: “The courts service committed in its action plans under Sustaining Progress and Towards 2016 to a review of the offices and structure of the service. The courts service has completed a review of the district court offices. Under the review full consideration was taken of how users of local offices can be facilitated locally, and how best to offer family friendly and flexible work practices to staff in our smaller offices. Following this review there are no plans at this time to relocate Ballina district court office.”
Dep Calleary has also been campaigning to keep the office open: “For the past year I have made significant progress in discussions with previous Minister for Justice and Law Reform, Brian Lenihan TD, and I would like to publicly acknowledge Minister Lenihan's commitment to retaining the service in Ballina,” he said.
“I would also like to compliment the Mayo Solicitors Bar Association, Ballina Chamber and the councils who assisted in securing the retention of the office. The next step is to secure additional investment in the Ballina office to improve the facilities there and the service provided,” stressed Dep Calleary.
Dep Calleary also confirmed that he has written to Minister for Community, Gaeltacht and Rural Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív TD, in relation to the proposed closure of some of the county's district courts.
“This is a rural services issue and I have written to Minister Ó Cuív to lodge my objections to the proposed closure of the courts in the hope that he may intervene in the matter. It strikes me that the costs involved in retaining the affected courts cannot be high and I will continue to lobby for their retention,” he said.
Ballina solicitor and Mayor of Ballina Michelle Mulherin welcomed the announcement saying it was a relief for all the legal practitioners, court staff and court users.
