Future of ‘smallest courthouse’ in Limavady being considered in wider estate review, says Naomi Long - video Dailymotion

Future of ‘smallest courthouse’ in Limavady being considered in wider estate review, says Naomi Long

Transcript

00:00Limavady Courthouse has been closed since March 2020, with its business currently transferred

00:04to Coleraine. Prior to its closure, the building operated as a hearing centre and was open

00:09for one day a week for the delivery of Manchester 8's court business. The Northern Ireland

00:14Courts and Tribunals Estate Strategy, published in December 2023, provides a long-term framework

00:19for investment over the next decade and beyond. To implement the strategy, Northern Ireland

00:24Courts and Tribunals Service is using data and evidence to baseline the existing estate

00:28against the agreed strategic outcomes, assess the adequacy of its buildings and, in the

00:34context of the finite resources available, develop prioritised investment plans that

00:38will be subject to public consultation as appropriate. The future use of Limavady Courthouse

00:43forms part of that process.

00:45I suppose one of my biggest concerns about courthouses across Northern Ireland is access

00:54to justice primarily, but also the impact that it will have in rural areas in terms

01:00of removing courthouses. As part of this review, will the Minister be looking at an impact

01:06assessment to ensure that we take into account all the various aspects as to why not having

01:11a courthouse is a good thing?

01:15First of all, we have to make sure that courthouses are accessible in the most basic sense. Many

01:20of them, unfortunately, are not fit for purpose. Many of the protections that we would wish

01:23to put in place, for example, for vulnerable victims and witnesses, are not possible as

01:27everybody enters through the one door at the front of the courthouse, so we are not able

01:31to do the segregation that we would normally expect in some of our more recent purpose-built

01:35facilities.

01:36Limavady Courthouse is the smallest courthouse in our estate and, since 2002, has only heard

01:42adult magistrate business. In 2023-24, only 476 cases were received by Limavady Magistrates

01:50Court, and it has historically had the lowest business volumes in the court estate, which

01:54is one of the reasons why it was previously only open a single day each week. However,

01:59it is right to say that, as part of the decision-making process, access to justice will be one of

02:05the crucial issues, but it has to be looked at in the round, including as to whether,

02:09for example, we are able to be DDA compliant when it comes to access to the buildings,

02:14as well as whether people live adjacent to them.