Thurles District Court comes to a standstill
The court had to be adjourned for 45 minutes to give the solicitors time to arrive
Thurles District Court came to a standstill last week due to a lack of solicitors.
The 10:30am court sitting on Wednesday had to be adjourned for almost 45 minutes to allow time for legal representatives to arrive.
After the morning call out of the list and the finalisation of some small matters, the court was told that no other scheduled hearing could go ahead until after 11:30am.
That was despite gardaí, defendants and witnesses all being present in court.
From the bench, Judge Elizabeth MacGrath said it was “not acceptable” that cases had to be left to stand.
“I have concerns about representation in relation to some solicitors in this court,” said Judge MacGrath.
The judge said solicitors were not entitled to decide when on the day, their cases would be heard.
She said when she practised as a solicitor, everyone was expected to be in court for the 10:30am start.
The judge rose at 11am and court resumed at 11:43am.