This article is from page 16 of the 2011-05-31 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
ENNIS is one of three locations nationwide chosen to take part in a pilot initiative combining the county’s court offices.
The district and circuit court offices for Clare have been combined into one, as part of the Public Service (Croke Park) Agreement.
Ennis, together the Monaghan and Naas, has been chosen for this project, which is expected to eventually be rolled out nationally.
Essentially it means that both court offices will work together, rather than be separated, as is currently the case. The aim is that the combination of smaller offices will provide opportunities for the improvement and enhancement of the offices to ensure the better use of staff time and resources in maintaining frontline services.
Josephine Tone, who has been the manager of the district court offices in Ennis, has been appointed office manager of the combined offices.
Brid O’Dea, Paul O’Gara, Tara Hayes and Brid Curtin will deal with crime lists in both the district and circuit courts. Brian Caden, Susan Dermody, Mary Greene, Ann McMahon and Noreen Cahill-O’Keeffe will work together on the civil and family law lists in both courts.
As part of the changes, the county registrar Pat Wallace’s role will change from that of office manager to one where he will make legal decisions. Mr Wallace is also manager of the Tipperary office at the moment, after the position became vacant recently.
Spokesman for the Courts Service Brendan McDonald told The Clare People the measure “is an efficient way of optimising the limited resources we have, to provide the same care”.
“Ennis and Naas were picked because Naas is a large office and En- nis would be smaller. We needed one in the region. There is a mixture of challenges,” he said.
“Our business has gone up by more than 28 per cent since 2008 nationally and staff numbers have gone down by 12 per cent and are likely to go down even more,” said Mr McDonald.
“It’s about sharing resources and sharing information. It is about sharing knowledge by pooling our resources. We will be able to provide for family friendly measures for staff (in terms of working hours).
“When the customer comes in there is now one public office,” he said.
“This is the biggest change we have had since 1922 in the courts system. The offices have always been separate,” he said.
The initiative will be reviewed after a few months.