No funding for refurbishment and restoration of courthouse
The courthouse in Roscommon Town, which is set to close next January for repairs. Pic. Gerard O'Loughlin
No funding has been provided for the refurbishment and restoration of Roscommon Courthouse. The historic building has been closed by the Courts Service since December 2022 for health and safety reasons.
Under the recently published Sectoral Investment Plan for Justice 2026-2030, Roscommon courthouse was not mentioned at all, despite hopes that it would be included.
FF TD Dr Martin Daly said he was “extremely disappointed” with the decision and vowed to continue fighting for funding for the building.
“It’s difficult to understand,” he said.
The increasingly dilapidated state of the county town’s courthouse has been a source of concern for the county’s politicians, members of the legal profession as well as people who care about Roscommon’s heritage.
When contacted by the Roscommon Herald the Courts Service said it remains committed to the future development and refurbishment of Roscommon Courthouse, “and to the ongoing provision of a temporary facility whilst we await funding for the old courthouse”.
“Given the condition of the existing courthouse in Roscommon and the necessity to close it for Health & Safety reasons, the Courts Service was obliged to take immediate steps in 2021 to remedy the situation to ensure, firstly, that the health and safety of all court users was prioritised and secondly, to ensure that sittings continued to be facilitated in Roscommon town,” the spokesperson said.
In documents released to this paper under the freedom of information act, members of the judiciary expressed serious concerns about the future of the building.
In July of this year, an internal Courts Service memo also said that “significant funding is likely required to address structural issues” particularly with the courthouse’s roof.
Prior to that in May, Judge Keenan Johnson who had previously presided over Roscommon Circuit Court, wrote to the Courts Service. He said that he was always of the view that the monies spent, €1.5 million, on the temporary venue in Roscommon, which he described as “totally inadequate because it only has one courtroom”, “would have been better spent on remedial works in the old courthouse”.
