THE SPECIAL Criminal Court sat for the last time in Green Street courthouse yesterday, presided over by Mr Justice Paul Butler, sitting with Judge Alison Lindsay of the Circuit Court and Judge William Hamill of the District Court.
Since it was set up under the Offences Against the State Act, the court has comprised a judge each of the High Court, Circuit and District Court, rather than a judge and jury. It dealt with five matters yesterday, all of which were adjourned until the new year. It will then be sitting in the new Criminal Courts Complex in Parkgate Street. Among the cases mentioned was that of Thomas “Slab” Murphy, who is challenging his prosecution by the Criminal Assets Bureau on tax-related charges.
For the first time in the court’s history, photographers were permitted to take photographs of the three judges sitting. At the outset of the brief sitting Mr Justice Butler acknowledged that this would be the last time the Special Criminal Court would sit in the historic courthouse.
The new complex will be fully operational when the courts open on January 11th. All criminal trials previously heard in Dublin courts, from District Court to the Court of Criminal Appeal, will be heard there.
The Special Criminal Court has been housed in Green Street, which was the scene of the trial of Robert Emmet, since 1972. It heard all the major terrorist-related trials of the IRA campaign of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. In 1976 two men, who were in cells awaiting trial, escaped when they blew up a side wall of the court. They were later arrested and convicted of the possession of mortars and explosives.
Among the many high-profile trials conducted there were the two trials of the men accused of the Sallins train robbery in 1976. The death of the judge ended the first trial. In the second, Nicky Kelly and his two co-accused were convicted on the basis of false confessions that were beaten out of them. The court said they must have beaten themselves up or beaten each other up.
Although its stand-alone character makes the building amenable to high-security protection and it is therefore seen as a high-security courthouse, it also houses the reform directorate of the Courts Service. A Courts Service spokesman said it was hoped that it would be used for a legal history museum.