Security breaches, the smuggling of weapons, threats and assaults were among the more than 150 accidents and incidents recorded by the Courts Service last year.
In one, recorded in April 2025, security logs show staff were alerted to two people trapped in a panoramic lift at Dublin’s Criminal Courts of Justice (CCJ) on Parkgate Street.
On CCTV, the staff could see that “[one] individual appeared highly agitated and unexpectedly slapped the [other] individual several times”.
The assailant then lit a cigarette while staff and gardaí attempted unsuccessfully to force open the lift doors.
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The Courts Service log said: “Fortunately, an Irish lift engineer, who was already on-site conducting routine servicing, intervened and successfully freed the two individuals.”
The list of recorded incidents, released under Freedom of Information legislation, also includes a cleaner being accidentally locked inside a cell, threats against staff and a security breach involving a judges’ car park.
The cleaner had been locked in a cell at the CCJ when the door mechanism was left in the wrong position.
A log of the incident said: “Garda sergeant telephoned [security] to apologise for the cell door locking dead bolt not being engaged, which resulted in the trapping of the member of the cleaning team.”
Separately, a cleaner was attacked while trying to clean up a large spill of water in public toilets, also at the CCJ.
Two people attempted to enter but were told the toilets were flooded and they could not come in. They then began to threaten the cleaner, hurling items from a janitor’s trolley and saying they knew their name from “the lanyard around [their] neck”.
In another incident the same month, somebody tailgated a member of the judiciary into a private car park.
A note said: “This individual closely followed the judge, gaining unauthorised access to the restricted area in the judges’ car park.”
The log also detailed a case in which a member of the public had attempted to bring a “large knife” through an X-ray scanner.
Once inside, they walked towards a courtroom shouting “obscenities” as gardaí were called to assist.
There were also multiple threats made, including one person who said they would set a fire and another who promised to bring a rifle to the courts.
Other bizarre incidents reported included an electric scooter plugged into a socket near a shower area and the theft of an Irish flag from the courthouse in Carlow.
Another note describing a mishap in Kilkenny said: “Two toilets blocked on level three being worked on by contractor. Blockage burst through loose pipes and on to ceiling area and subsequently on to staff desk.”
The Courts Service is responsible for more than 100 buildings across the State.
