New security measures come into force at the Four Courts on Monday, ending the long tradition of unrestricted public access to the complex. The new measures will be rolled out over the next two weeks and are expected to be fully operational by the end of the second week in October.
The famous front entrance on the quays, scene of countless impromptu press conferences, will no longer be open to anybody, nor will the lesser-used entrance to Áras Uí Dhálaigh down the street.
Instead court-users will be divided into different categories, with different entrances according to their reason for visiting the Four Courts.
Judges, lawyers, full-time court reporters and other professionals who are present daily will already have been issued with photographic ID cards, permitting them access through security kiosks at Morgan Place, Chancery Street adjacent to the Land Registry building, the judges' car-park at Chancery Place and the Circuit Courthouse at Chancery Place.
Members of the public, including jurors and those visiting the Public Records Office and the Land Registry, will get to the complex through a pavilion at Morgan Place on the quays, between the Four Courts and Áras Uí Dhálaigh. These pavilions will contain security personnel, scanning equipment and X-ray machines for bags.
Those requiring access to circuit courts 24, 25 and 26 will enter and leave through the front door of the Circuit Courthouse on Chancery Place, around the corner from the Four Courts.
There will be extra and improved lighting and CCTV, and no cameras will be allowed into the complex. If there is a fire or other emergency, all exits will be opened automatically.
A tightening-up of car-parking arrangements will include permits for vehicles authorised to gain access to the car parks at Morgan Place and Áras Uí Dhálaigh. Only the drivers of these vehicles may enter through the car-park entrance, with passengers entering through the security pavilion.
All contractors and suppliers to the Four Courts must have prior clearance to gain entry.
A Courts Service spokesman said there was no question of restricting access to the courts, but rather of organising the access in a way that better ensured the safety and security of all who used the complex. "While there is no specific threat to the organisation or the courts," he said, "the measures are a response to an ever-changing security climate and environment".
"In recent times there have been attempts to use the toilets in the courts to take intravenous drugs and some public-order instances have occurred.
"These measures will ensure the fuller scrutiny of those who enter the buildings and of activity in the public areas of the buildings and yards."
He said the Courts Service had consulted widely in relation to the new arrangements and a series of information advertisements would appear in the national press over the coming days.