Local solicitors told ‘be brief and to the point’

AFTER handling 115 applications at Limerick District Court as part of the annual licensing court sitting, Judge Eamon O’Brien has called on Limerick solicitors to be brief and to the point in court. Noting that objections for 13 applications were adjourned to November 3, the judge said that cases could be dealt with in a much quicker if solicitors, applicants and objectors noted and used one of “the fine arts”.

He called on those in court to adhere to the sentiment that “brevity is one of the fine arts in court”.
Judge O’Brien’s quip, while drawing humour during the course of a heavy workload, came after he requested “reasonable grounds for objection”.
Limerick District Court still sits with Judge Eamon O’Brien at the interim helm, and November 1 next will see the rostering of a second district court, sitting at “Court 2,” in Merchants Quay.
The court will sit on Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 10.30 and 2.30pm where summonses, applications, small claims, family law and all contested matters will be heard.
The four week rostered court sitting will also see local authority proceedings and personal summonses dealt with.
This will be a non custody court.
As of yet, the appointment of a full-time judge has not been made for Limerick District Court, and it believed that a ‘floating’ judge will handle the second court sittings.
It is now five months since Judge Tom O’Donnell was elevated to sit at the circuit courts, and Limerick solicitors are calling on the State and the office of the President, to make an official appointment as his full-time replacement at the district court as soon as possible.