THE MONTHLY sitting of Castleisland District Court, which has taken place for almost 90 years in the Co Kerry market town, came to an end yesterday.
Held on the fourth Thursday of the month, Castleisland was a busy court for road traffic offences as the area covered the Kerry to Dublin national primary roads the N23 and N21.
In one celebrated case in recent years, a Limerick man was prosecuted for shaving while driving on the N21.
He avoided a conviction after agreeing to pay a large sum into a poor box.
The court sat in a rundown wooden-floored badminton hall, where acoustics and heating were often a problem.
Local man and Kerry county councillor Bobby O’Connell (FF) criticised the Department of Justice and Courts Service for not reaching a deal with the county council to relocate in a new council area services building built by the council to serve Castleisland.
“Provision was specifically made for the court to relocate to the building. The Department of Justice reneged on the deal as far as I am concerned,” said Mr O’Connell, who was mayor of Kerry when the move was being brokered.
He said the space allocated for the court was now being used by water services, which had been renting office space in Tralee.
Paying tribute to the work of the court in Castleisland since 1925, solicitor Pat Mann told Judge James O’Connor the court was “a victim of the economy”.
A statutory instrument ending the Castleisland court was served to the court offices in Tralee yesterday, and designates Tralee as the court for the area on the fourth Thursday.
However, some senior legal figures have expressed reservations about the move, saying it would exacerbate the simmering feud between Castleisland and Tralee Travellers.
There is widespread speculation that a second Kerry court, Killorglin District Court, held in a disused church, is also to cease.
The Courts Service said it was carrying out a review on all courts and had made no decision.