Judge warned €1.5m spend on temporary courthouse could become the latest 'OPW disaster'
In a message to management, Judge James Faughnan lambasted a decision to provide just a single courtroom in Roscommon when two had been available in their old building.
The judge said he was sure the Courts Service would not want a 'light shone' on their lack of foresight in providing sub-par accommodation at significant cost.
Judge Faughnan said that with a general election looming and 'recent OPW disasters' over the Leinster House bike shelter and security hut, bad publicity was very likely.
In an email last September, he said he would 'never dream' of going public but said the situation was likely to come to a head in 2025.
Judge Faughnan said that when the temporary accommodation on the outskirts of Roscommon town was being planned, he specifically asked for provision of a second courtroom.
He wrote: 'The Courts Service, while on notice of this, then spent over €1.5 million without providing a second courtroom.
'I can only imagine that if that got picked up by the media, there would be an awful lot of questions to answer.'
He said the expenditure on the temporary accommodation would be 'laughable if it wasn't so serious.'
In another message to court management last October, Judge Faughnan said the Courts Service had used up 'all the goodwill' extended to them by legal people working in Roscommon.
He pleaded for a temporary second courtroom on site which he believed could be provided at very little cost.
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'It would lend itself to a timber frame type construction which could be erected speedily,' he wrote.
He said the current situation was unsustainable and that a proposed solution to provide temporary facilities in Castlerea Prison was unlikely to work.
Judge Faughnan wrote: 'I do not accept the works carried out in Castlerea to be beneficial as prior to the works, the facilities were Dickensian and have only regularised what was needed for many years.'
The judge was one of three who wrote to the Courts Service outlining serious concerns over their workplace in County Roscommon.
In another letter, Judge Kenneth Connolly said the old courthouse in Roscommon town had been shut down because of the 'very poor' conditions there.
However, he said the new facility on the outskirts of the town had 'not performed' and was 'unsuitable as even a medium-term option.'
Judge Connolly said there was little parking, nowhere nearby for jurors or the public to buy food or drink, and that facilities for victims were 'questionable to poor.'
A third judge, Keenan Johnson, said money spent on the temporary facility should have been used to restore the original courthouse.
He wrote: 'I have huge concerns that having vacated the courthouse it will now be allowed to deteriorate to such an extent that the feasibility of returning to it may be put in jeopardy.'
Judge Johnson added that they were now 'stuck with the current totally unsatisfactory situation' of having only one courtroom.
Asked about the correspondence, a spokesperson for the Courts Service said the old Roscommon courthouse had been closed by the OPW on health and safety grounds.
'Significant investment is required,' they said.
'Given the condition of the existing courthouse in Roscommon and the necessity to close it for health and safety reasons, the Courts Service took immediate steps to remedy the situation to ensure, firstly, that the health and safety of all court users was prioritised and secondly, to ensure that sittings continue to be facilitated in Roscommon Town.
'The Courts Service submission in respect of the forthcoming revised NDP [National Development Plan] includes Roscommon Courthouse.'
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