Courts Service

(1) Role of the Courts Service
(2) What You Can Expect from the Courts Service
(3) If we do not meet your expectations
(4) How to contact us
(5) Your guide to the Criminal Courts

The Courts Service was set up in November 1999 to manage all the different kinds of courts in Ireland. (There is a guide at the end of this section which lists the different kinds of criminal courts and what they do).

The Courts Service must, by law, take account of the needs of court users, including witnesses and victims of crime. Our mandate [authority] is set out in the Courts Service Act, 1998.

The Courts Service:

• is responsible for management and administration of the courts;
• provides support services for judges;
• provides facilities for court users;
• manages and maintains court buildings; and
• takes into account the needs of court users, including crime victims, when developing policies and strategies to carry out our work to a high standard.

Please note that we cannot comment on or intervene in any way in matters about sentencing and the giving of evidence by victims. These are matters for the judge, who is independent in carrying out their functions, subject only to the law and the constitution. You can only address a judge’s decision through the courts, for example, through an appeal.

The Courts Service aims to look after the needs of victims of crime and vulnerable witnesses by providing the following facilities and services:

Please click on the toggle to see where dedicated victims waiting rooms are currently available. Where a location is named twice it means there are 2 dedicated suites.

Arrangements are in place to reserve consultation rooms for victims in other venues, if required.

Rooms will be specially set aside for victims and vulnerable witnesses in all future projects to refurbish buildings.

Video link facilities are currently available at 65 Court locations around the country including 5 mobile units. 41 more locations are to be installed in 2021. Video link allows you to give evidence in a different room to where the court is being held. Click on the toggle to see where the facilities are currently available.

In liaison with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the prosecuting member of An Garda Síochána will arrange – with the Courts Service – a video link for taking evidence.

You will be consulted about the nearest available facility for the taking of this evidence. This will be either within the court building where the trial is happening, or the nearest available location.

Screens can be made available on request.

In co-operation with the office of the DPP, the prosecuting member of An Garda Síochána will talk you through the procedure if you wish to give evidence behind a screen. A case can be transferred to a court venue where a screen is available if necessary.

Reserved seating is available for the family of the deceased in murder and manslaughter cases at Central and Circuit Criminal Court hearings. This facility needs to be arranged in advance.

You can visit the courthouse before the trial by prior arrangement with the prosecuting member of An Garda Síochána or the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Separate family law sittings in major court venues: separate family law sittings take place at all major court venues – urgent cases, such as an application for a protection order, can still be heard at other times as well.

Our Victim liaison officers within each of our offices can arrange with the prosecuting member of An Garda Síochána or the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for you to access to victim rooms, if they are available.

They can also reserve family seating for appropriate/sensitive cases, and organise advance visits to courthouses. They can also give you contact details of voluntary organisations that offer support to crime victims. In some court venues, voluntary organisations provide victim accompaniment or victim support services in the courthouse.

The Courts Service gives support and information through the following services:

Our website www.courts.ie will give you a wide range of information on going to court. It is available in English and Irish, with some publications on the site available in:

• French
• Spanish
• Chinese
• Polish
• Russian
• Romanian.

The website includes a section for people who are going to court for the first time, including as a victim or a witness, as well as information on preparing a victim impact statement.

A publication entitled Going to Court is available as a booklet, on DVD or on our website. It gives a range of information on how the court process works, including what happens in court, who’s who in court and what happens after a trial.

This service is available, by order of the court, to victims and witnesses who do not speak English so that they can give their evidence, or make a victim impact statement if the law or the court allows this.

The Courts Service aims to provide a courteous, fair and sensitive service to victims of crime.

If you as a victim of crime are unhappy with the service available in a courthouse, you should, first of all, raise this with the victim liaison officer for that courthouse and/or the office manager for that courthouse.

If, after raising your concerns, you are not satisfied with the help provided in a courthouse, you should make your complaint in writing to us. To do this, you use the formal customer complaints procedure and the Customer Service Complaint Form, which are available on the Courts Service website www.courts.ie

The completed Customer Complaints Form can be forwarded to us by post or by email. The addresses are given below.

All complaints will be dealt with promptly, and in a fair and courteous manner.

The Courts Service is subject to review by the Office of the Ombudsman in respect of the performance of administrative functions.

The table below shows you the six types of courts, the cases they hear, who hears them and where.