Supreme Court cases go cold for Chief Justice Susan Denham

The Chief Justice became so frustrated by the lack of heating in the Supreme Court earlier this year that she brought in a thermometer to take her own readings and sent them to Government.

In an accompanying letter Mrs Justice Susan Denham warned she would have to cancel court sittings unless there was adequate heating.

“This I am loath to do as cases are important and urgent for the parties, but this is a significant health matter,” she informed Simon Harris, the Minister of State responsible for the Office of Public Works, on January 30th.

Her 25 readings taken during a week in January showed the temperature in the Supreme Court and its conference room in the Four Courts complex varied between 13.5 and 19 degrees. This is well below recommended temperatures for office work which tend to be between 21-24 degrees for maximum productivity. A Cornell University study in the US went further, recommending 25 degrees as the optimum.

This was the second winter the Chief Justice has taken up the issue with the Government. In December 2013 she wrote to Mr Harris’s predecessor about the inadequate heating.

“A number of members of the court have fallen ill in this time and I believe that the cold temperatures have been a factor in this. If the matter is not resolved as a matter of urgency, I will have no option but to cancel sittings of the Supreme Court and to advise judges of the court to remain at home.”