Justice shall be administered in courts established by law by judges appointed in the manner provided by this Constitution, and, save in such special and limited cases as may be prescribed by law, shall be administered in public
Article 34, Section 1, Bunreacht Na hEireann (Constitution of Ireland)
At the moment the Courts are on holiday. Judges and barristers, though not solicitors, legal execs, agents or court officials, are breaking their legs skiing down mountains, or enjoying themselves teeing off at golf courses.
So perhaps not as many people as usual have seen the sign strapped to one of the pillars of the Four Courts by the main door. It is an application for planning permission to alter the main door portico and the erection of railings.
This is part of a general move by the Courts Service to make the Four Courts less accessible by members of the public. Starting at the end of last year, at a time when traditionally Civil Service Capital Expenditure Budgets tend to get spent in, shall we say, a less anxious manner than at the start of the budgetary year, the Courts Service embarked on a project to create a more ‘secure’ Four Courts.
Secure from who or what is not specified. I would have thought that a system which allowed the public ready access to the courts, in accordance with the above constitutional provision, throughout the entire life of the Troubles would have proved itself by now. But let’s come back to that in a moment.
There are a number of issues raised by this project. In increasing order of importance these are
2) The decision making process which led to its start in the first place and the shoddy implementation of this project to date
1) The potential symbolic and actual changes which this decision will create in the relationship between the primary locus of the Judiciary of the Republic and the citizens of the state.
Let’s start at the bottom first. The decision was announced in the last quarter of 2004 to introduce new security doors and to restrict access to the courts building to certain designated sites for the public. A message was issued to all solicitors (and barristers) that they would need to apply for a card, to be issued by the Courts Service, which would allow them to bypass this security system. To get one of these cards the solicitor (or other legal agent. I’m going to use solicitor as shorthand) had to present him or herself to a member of the gardi who they were personally known to. They had to bring along with them a passport size photograph, to be signed by the Garda. They were told that the completed documentation, along with signed photographs had to be in before the end of 2004 to allow for the commencement of the new security procedures in January.
This created a two tier level of access to the Courts between the legal professionals and the general public, otherwise known as citizens. But we’ll leave that to the discussion below.
For the moment we will simply point out that since then the following has occurred.
A number of large and unsightly grey portacabin-style huts have been erected, entirely out of keeping with the surrounding buildings, at each gate to the Yards at either side of the Four Courts. Tollbooth style portals now stand in front of each pedestrian entrance with a rather sinister polished dome mounted on top. The idea being, it seems, that those who wish to penetrate Fortress Four Courts, will have to enter the Tollbooth, be enclosed within it while the portacabin denizens scrutinize them through the camera in the dome and then wait to see if they will be deemed acceptable to witness the administration of justice. If so, the doors in front of them will open. This will also apply to those called for Jury service.
Given the constant flow of people through all three of these gates, the limit of the Tollbooths to one person at a time and the intention to restrict most public access to a single gate it seems that any member of the public wishing to see Justice be done may soon expect to spend quite a time queuing for the privilege.
We can only expect such a thing, because despite the repeated announcements of the commencement of the system, the portacabin and Tollboth combinations remain mounfully unfinished. The usual gatelodges, which they were built alongside, remain in daily use. The interior of the portacabins are empty apart from a large quantity of clearly expensive air conditioning equipment- installed in a rush of enthusiasm, and now abandoned to spin its blades in the breeze.
The thing that seems to have put the breaks on the full realisation of the original Fortress Four Courts Plan was the objection by some, unnamed members of the judiciary, to the permanent closing of the front door of the Four Courts, leading directly to the Round Hall. Here’s how the Courts Service Newsletter announced the plan in their October 2004 (pdf) edition:
A range of measures to be put in place in early 2005 will substantially improve security in and around the Four Courts complex. The measures include the provision of security pavilions with scanning equipment at the entrances to the complex and the restriction of vehicle access to the judges’ car part in Chancery Place. A number of groups including judges, staff, solicitors and barristers will be exempt from having to pass through the scanners. Members of these groups will be issued with proximity/swipe cards to enable them gain access to the complex. “From January 2005, there will be no access available to anybody through either the front door of the main Four Courts building or the front door of Aras Ui Dhalaigh”, Dublin Regional Manager Frank Lyons told Courts Service News. “Public entrances to the complex will be located at Morgan Place (between Aras Ui Dhalaigh and the main Four Courts building) and the front door of the Circuit Courthouse in Chancery Place. Those with access cards will be able to gain access through special erected turnstiles/kiosks a the entrances to Morgan Place, Chancery Street, the judges carpark at Chancery Place and the Circuit Courthouse at Chancery Place. These people can exit through turnstiles/kiosks which will not facilitate unauthorised entry.” A tightening up of car parking arrangements will include the issue of permits for display on the windscreen of vehicles authorised to gain access to the car parks at Morgan Place/Aras Ui Dhalaigh. We will bring you further updates on the new arrangements in future issues of Courts Service News.
This article raised quite a number of questions. Not least of which was how Frank Lyons, Dublin Regional Manager manages to speak in bracketed sub clauses. But more was to come. Here’s a report from Courts Service News of March 2005
Futuristic new security pavilion at the Four Courts Security pavilions with scanning equipment are part of a range of new security measures soon to be introduced in and around the Four Courts complex. The pavilions will be located at the entrances to the complex and together with the restriction of vehicle access to the judges’ car park in Chancery Place will lead to a major improvement in the security arrangements. Obviously the introduction of the new procedures will slow down access to the complex”, Courts Service Dublin Regional Manager, Frank Lyons told Courts Service News.
“We will be asking all members of the public, those before the courts and jurors called for duty to attend a few minutes early so as to allow for the new procedures to work efficiently”. Consultations have taken place with a wide variety of court user groups to ensure a smooth transition for the new measures with Group Four Security engaged to provide the personnel to operate the new security system.Certain professional groups including judges, staff, lawyers and full time media personnel assigned to the courts will be exempt from going through the new security arrangements. Members of these groups are being issued with identification/pass cards and will be able to gain access through specially erected kiosks at the entrances to Morgan Place; Chancery Street; the judges’ car park at Chancery Place and the Circuit Courthouse at Chancery Place. They can also exit through kiosks which will not facilitate unauthorised entry.
A tightening up of car parking arrangements will include the issue of permits for display on the windscreen of vehicles authorised to gain access to the car parks at Morgan Place/??ras Uí Dhálaigh. All suppliers to the Four Courts will need prior clearance to gain entry to the complex.
Why are the new arrangements being introduced? “They are a response to an ever changing security climate and environment”, says Frank Lyons. “There is no question of restricting public access to the courts – but of organising this access so as to better ensure safety and security for all who use the complex”.
* There will be no access available to anybody through either the front door of the main Four Courts building or the front door of ??ras Uí Dhálaigh
* Public entrances to the complex will be located at Morgan Place (between ??ras Uí Dhálaigh and the main Four Courts building) and at the front door of the Circuit Courthouse building in Chancery Place.
* Public exits from the complex will be at Morgan Place and Chancery Place only
* In the event of an emergency or fire all exits will be opened automatically.
You’ll notice that January has turned into March now, and still we’re talking about our project being soon introduced. Something was slowing down Fortress Four Courts. And the last quote from a clearly embattled Frank Lyons, of bracketed speech fame, hints at what that might be. He certainly felt that the need to point out, as he didn’t feel previously, that although the above rules and changes amount to the greatest restriction on the public’s access to the Courts of Justice in the history of the state, there was “no question of restricting public access to the courts”.
Rather the public’s constitutional rights just needed, for reasons still unexplained, to be “organised”. Clearly, not everyone, including perhaps members of the judiciary saw that need as clearly as Frank Lyons.
More hints of problems with Frank Lyons’ “organising” came from the Legal Gazette, the newsletter of the Law Society of Ireland which represents solicitors.
From their December 2004 edition (pdf)
However, it appears that solicitors may not find it easy to get their hands on access/ID cards for the Four Courts. The Courts Service has informed the Law Society that “some garda stations are not prepared to stamp application forms and photographs” for solicitors, trainees and solicitors’ clerks. “We have consulted with the garda commissioner’s office regarding this matter”, it says, “and have been advised that solicitors should arrange with members of the Garda Síochána who are well known to them to have their application forms stamped rather than seek to have the forms stamped at a garda station where the applicant is not known”.
Handing Gardi a chance to demand that solicitors prove who they are. They just couldn’t resist it. And perhaps more significantly:
According to the Courts Service, the new security measures are “a response to an ever-changing security climate”.
Clearly, people were asking that pesky ‘why?’ question with impertinent regularity. And the Courts Service don’t seem to have been prepared to give a specific answer.
It now appears that a compromise has been proposed by the Courts Service- the main door, newly described by the Courts Service as the Trade Mark Front Door, to the Four Courts will remain open for egress, with structural changes, but will still not allow people to enter.
Now we come to the question at the heart of my complaint, and the reason I will be submitting my first ever objection to an application for planning permission in response to that sign strapped to the columns of the front of the Four Courts. The Four Courts building is a symbol of the administration of justice in the country. Justice is a creaky, human thing, and needs all the support of the society to function properly. Attending court, either as a participant or observer, is already an intimidating, confusing and difficult endeavor. But for the courts, and the justice system as a whole, to hold on to its legitimacy it must ensure that the citizens of the republic whose laws it upholds see it as their justice system.
Affixed to the wall behind every judge, where our neighbors would have the royal insignia. is the seal of the Republic. It is the symbol of the source of the courts legitimacy. The administration of justice is filled with symbols, all with real power. And there are few more potent symbols of rejection, and turning people away, than the shutting of a door.
Look beyond the fact that demand for these changes is of, to put it mildly, uncertain origin. Apart from the legitimate questions which can be raised at the expense of its implementation and the poor planning shown throughout. Apart from the cavalier attitude to one of the nation’s acknowledged masterpieces of architecture shown by the imposition of ugly prefabs and sinister scanning booths, of railings and barriers. Apart from the deplorable creation of an officially recognised elite of legal professionals, given privileged access to the Four Courts, while their fellow citizens must queue outdoors, waiting to be scanned.
Besides all that is the fact that the front door to the Four Courts is the symbol of the public’s access to justice. It is the physical manifestation of the means by which the citizens of the Republic of Ireland can ensure that they can gain access to the events happening and decisions being made under that Seal of a harp. It is the promise of Article 34.1 carved in stone and wood. And that is too important to lose to bureaucratic “organisation”.