Justice Minister says moving Magherafelt court cases to Dungannon ‘won’t impact on traffic flow’

Justice Minister, David Ford, says he does not anticipate that the transferral of cases to Dungannon Court from Magherafelt will impact on traffic congestion there.
Dungannon CourthouseDungannon Courthouse
Dungannon Courthouse

The issue was raised in an Assembly question by DUP MLA, Maurice Morrow, who asked how the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service intends to cope with the additional vehicles in a car park which is “not currently accommodating existing vehicle levels”.

Court users are often left with little choice but to park along the Killyman Road due to the demand for parking spaces.

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In addition to Magherafelt, Enniskillen courthouse and a number of others will close as part of a plan by the Justice Minister to save money.

Mr Ford said: “Under the court rationalisation proposals, it is expected that the transferring business from Magherafelt Magistrates Court will generally be accommodated on those days which currently have lower volumes of court users attending court. In this context I would not anticipate that the proposals will impact substantially on the current levels of traffic which might be expected on an individual day.”

Court closures

At the end of January this year, Justice Minister, David Ford, announced he would be reducing the number of court houses in Northern Ireland from 20 to 12.

With the NI Courts and Tribunals Service facing a cut of almost 11 per cent, or £2.3 million, Mr Ford is proposing to close Limavady, Strabane, Enniskillen, Magherafelt, Ballymena, Newtownards, Armagh and Lisburn courts.

Mr Ford claims the move would save his department almost £1.5 million a year, with £300,000 of that to be saved by the Prison Service on reduced transport costs for taking prisoners to court.