Athlone court office closure fears

Legal and Garda representatives have voiced serious concerns this week about a plan to permanently close the Athlone District Court office.

Under the proposal, the public office at the court on Pearse Street, which is currently open five days a week, would close in the coming months.

Court sittings would continue to be held in Athlone, but they would be staffed by courts service employees travelling here from Mullingar.

The change would be another blow for the west side of Athlone, and could have major implications for the accessing and issuing of court documents in the town.

The court office plays a key role in the administration of family law matters, and there are fears about the impact removing the service from the town, and relocating it to Mullingar, could have on vulnerable persons including victims of domestic violence.

Athlone Garda Sergeant Andrew Haran said "the availability of court staff to deal with urgent domestic violence matters" was hugely important, and he was concerned about the potential removal of such a service from the town.

In a statement issued to the Westmeath Independent on Monday, a spokesperson for the courts service indicated it was in favour of “consolidating” its local offices in Mullingar.

“The Athlone District Court office has experienced a high level of staff turnover in the last three years,” said the courts service statement.

"This raises challenges as to the levels of experience available in the office, as it deals with a wide variety of cases and issues.

"An internal review of the long term viability of the office has been carried out and we now plan to hold consultations with court users. These will take place during the next two weeks.

"Overall, we feel the Courts Service can provide an enhanced service to court users by merging the Athlone office with Mullingar and consolidating the services it provides.

"This larger office will be better placed to deal with many of the foreseen and unforeseen circumstances that challenge smaller offices - who possess a more limited level of experience and acquired knowledge," said the statement.

The spokesperson added that sittings of the Circuit and District courts would be "unaffected" by the review.

Athlone Garda Station is located just a few doors away from the court office, and if the latter were to close "the inconvenience it would cause for us is obvious," said Sergeant Haran.

"Logistically, it would be a substantial issue for us," he added, pointing out that if Gardai had to travel to Mullingar to conduct court-related business it would involve "an hour and a half round trip" as opposed to a two-minute walk.

A number of local solicitors are also opposed to the closure. Speaking to the Westmeath Independent on Monday, solicitor Mark Cooney said there has a move nationally to centralise the management of court services into one location in each area.

"It's adopting the view that one size fits all, which isn't the case," said Mr Cooney, who pointed out that the Athlone office serves "a busy court in the largest town in the Midlands."

He said the availability of the court office meant maintenance summonses in family law cases could be issued and immediately served in Athlone, whereas under this proposal they would have to come from Mullingar.

Mr Cooney added that there were other implications for solicitors in terms of getting licensing applications or civil documents stamped, and accessing court files or checking court lists.

"There's something going on in the court in Athlone every day and it's a facility that's there for everybody," he said.

"It's not going to save any money for the courts service because they're probably going to have to employ two or three extra staff in Mullingar. The staff will then have to travel to court sittings in Athlone, and receive travel and subsistence expenses for doing so, which they are entitled to.

"The courthouse in Athlone will still be there and will still have to be heated and maintained, so I don't see how this will save any money."

His understanding was that the closure of the Athlone office would be a decision taken by courts service management, rather than by the courts service board which includes several senior members of the judiciary.

Mr Cooney said local solicitors were preparing a submission objecting to the closure and they have been in contact with local representatives to voice their concerns about it.