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THE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Finance Agency (NDFA) has finalised a deal to build and refurbish courthouses throughout Ireland.
The NDFA, which is part of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), has announce today the appointment of BAM PPP PGGM as preferred tenderer in the development of four new courthouses and the refurbishment and extension of three existing court buildings.
The €135 million (ex-VAT) project is a public private partnership (PPP) set to deliver upgraded courthouse facilities in seven different regions around Ireland. The project forms part of the Irish Government’s €2.25 billion Infrastructure Stimulus Programme announced in 2012.
The new courthouse buildings will be developed in Drogheda, Letterkenny, Limerick and Wexford, and refurbishment and extension works will be carried out to existing courthouses in Cork, Mullingar and Waterford.
Brian Murphy, Director of the NDFA, said the new and renovated buildings “are expected to deliver broad improvements and efficiencies including reduced waiting times and a reduction in litigation costs.”
Construction is expected to commence in November 2015 with final delivery due by November 2017.
Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin welcomed the annoucement, saying it “will create local jobs and will provide modern, fit for purpose facilities for members of the judiciary, the legal profession, gardaí and the general public”.
Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said the programme is an “ambitious” one deigned to “ensure that facilities will comply with modern standards for court accommodation and that the needs of all users of our courts will be met”.
New Courthouses will be constructed at the following locations:
Refurbishments will be carried out at the below locations:
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What about a substantial prison to lock up criminals up to serve out their sentences
End the revolving door please
That would make sense….However, You are ,like they rest of us ,subject to the deliberate short term tactical approach of this government to crime in this country.The additional court space will boost the conviction rates while feeding the government propaganda machine with more statistics used to convince the general public that the ‘war on crime’ is being fought and won.The reality is quite simple..this project is cheaper than a new jail and all the costs required to run it.At the end of the day all this will produce is more convicted criminals walking and working the streets due to lack of jail space and this is supposed to make us all feel safer.I personally do not feel safer and this court house project if anything would make anyone who considers it seriously,even less secure.
They’re coming up with new court houses, not new judges so there’ll be no ‘boost in conviction rates’. Some of the old courts are not fit for purpose and not safe for anyone working on them, some places have no courts at all and are held in unsuitable buildings. These are long overdue.
Ger and Alan you seem to forget the the function of courthouses is not merely to provide a venue for the criminal matters but also to deal with civil litigation and family law etc. Many people in Ireland have to wait years for civil cases to be heard at a huge cost to society and themselves. Part of the function is criminal but the majority of cases heard are not.
New spick and span courthouses to aid the repossession of families actual houses
They’ll be “bog standard” court houses, don’t you know.
Now you know how they’re going to deal with none payment of water bills :)
BAM PPP PGGM – great name, just rolls off the tongue
Their full name is BAM PPP PGGM Infrastructure Coöperatie U.A., even more of a mouthful.
BAM, also known as Royal BAM Group nv, is a large construction company which primarily deals with large public infrastructure projects. BAM PPP, is a division which engaged in public-private partnerships and BAM PPP PGGM is the latter’s collaboration with Dutch Pension fund PGGM.
A bit like the toll bridge over the river Liffey…..That worked out well for the taxpayer.
Will they have slides instead of steps for the criminals with 50+ convictions to slide down instead of the usual skipping back down the court steps while giving a two finger salute to the arresting gardai??? Not the buildings that need changing but some of the judges!
So these new/refurbished courthouses will deliver broad improvements….I wonder if we’re set to see the judicial system grow a set and dish out the sentences that crimes deserve as part of these improvements?
Government have lots of money to spend on own projects but when it comes to help 110000 people in morgage arrears wont decrease interest rates as proposed by an oposition party but will try every thing to buy people with handouts in next election to gullible people only to take it all back if get elected again
Courts are corporations so its all about business.
Think of the days under our Irish Brehon Law – no prisons and literally no crime.
Strange how we supposedly evolved under the Roman system.!!
No crime? This country was a tribal war zone for millennia under Brehon law. And when serious crimes were committed, murder as the main example, how was justice served under Brehon law, and how would those Brehon legal principles sit within a republican context? I’m sure you’d be delighted to return to a day when your life was almost automatically valued as less than mine simply because you’re a woman.
How are you able to think of those days, considering they passed hundreds of years ago with little in the way of written record being left behind?
What about the courthouses that have already been closed down and left idle in in Offaly, Laois, Kildare and Wicklow.
Maybe this time they will put cells in them.
Letterkenny courthouse was only built about 25 years ago. I know that might be a while but ffs how did so much money go into a building a relatively short time ago.
And that swimming pool was completely rebuilt around the same time. Complete idiocy in town planning.
135 million divided by 7 equals 19.4million per court house/complex. No expense spared then. I wonder who will get those contracts?
As per title of the article……..Any chance the same amount would spent to deal with hospitals waiting lists??
Would community centres not do instead???
More judges doing longer hours would be the obvious solution to slow throughput of cases. You can hold a court anywhere, without spending €135M.
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