Double stabbing leads to fears among courts staff

Courts Service staff have expressed serious concerns over security within Galway Courthouse, following a double stabbing on its front steps this week.

They have described the building as unfit for purpose and warned it is unlikely that security issues will be addressed while the courts sit in their current location.

The courthouse was “bursting at the seams” this week when the stabbing took place – two brothers were knifed on the front steps on Wednesday morning, and ran inside for protection from Gardaí. Their injuries were not life-threatening.

The overcrowding situation has become so serious that Circuit Criminal Court cases for next summer have had to be transferred to Castlebar.

“We don’t see what can be done [about security]. The Criminal Courts of Justice (CCJ) and the Four Courts in Dublin have security measures, but with the current building, how would it even be possible to search people?

“There are loads of guards and prison guards around all the time, so it’s not that much of a problem, but something should be done about security,” a court source said.

Hundreds of people were coming in and out of the courthouse all morning on Wednesday when the double stabbing occurred, as four courts were sitting; the District Court, Circuit Criminal Court, Circuit Civil Court and the repossessions court. More than 100 people were ‘on the list’ for the repossessions court alone.

For more on the problems at Galway Courthouse, see this week’s Galway City Tribune