Bid to address Donegal's 'unmanageable' court list

Court lists in Donegal have become so lengthy they are at 'unmanageable' levels.

The ever-expanding list is being exacerbated by the high volume of adjournments.

Contested cases, which are being listed for hearing, are already scheduled for as far down the road November, 2023.

At Monday's sitting of Letterkenny District Court alone, there were 398 criminal cases before Judge Éiteáin Cunningham.

The Covid-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the already-weighty lists before the courts.

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Legal minds in Donegal are set to get together in an attempt to clear some of the logjam, which is causing frustration for solicitors, Gardai, defendants and the Courts Service.

“The strain is lost in itself and it is becoming unmanageable,” solicitor Mr Frank Dorrian said at Monday's sitting.

“Something could be done on an ongoing basis. Rather than elaborate, if we can say 'there is a plea' and park those together.

“If we go mining in materials, it is administratively difficult, but we could put these to a particular day.”

Mr Dorrian suggested that each solicitor could endeavour to get 20 such cases at each court date.

Noting that there was a 'big bulk of matters' to sift through, Judge Cunningham agreed that the list was 'becoming more and more unmanageable'.

Sergeant Jim Collins agreed that some headway had to be made in eroding the vast swathes of cases to be dealt with.

The recent Creeslough explosion resulted in the postponement of court sittings while a full, scheduled day at Letterkenny District Court on Monday-week was cancelled due to the unavailability of a Judge.