Artists impression of new Family Courts Complex

The site in Hammond Lane in Smithfield was purchased by the State in the late 1990s and was announced as the site for a new family courts complex in 2014. Planning permission was acquired in 2024 with a public procurement process commenced in July of that year.

A statement issued by the Courts Service at the time said: “The Dublin Family Courts complex will be built with the specific needs of family law users in mind. It will provide a modern facility where family law cases can be held in a dignified, secure, and non-threatening environment. It will replace the present inadequate facilities at Dolphin House, Phoenix House and at Chancery Street courthouse.”

It was anticipated at the time that the project would be completed by 2028.

Justice minister Jim O’Callaghan, however, stated that construction is now not expected to commence until early 2027.

Keith Walsh SC, partner at Dublin firm Keith Walsh Solicitors, told Irish Legal News last year that the family law courts were “yet again the poor relation as construction will not start until 2027”.

It is now “10 years later than previously announced by previous ministers for justice”, he pointed out, and the new court facilities are “badly needed”.

“We are now on our fourth minister for justice, as this project started with Frances Fitzgerald in 2014, passed onto Charlie Flanagan then Helen McEntee and now Jim O’Callaghan,” he said.

“We still have no idea when the family courts in Dublin may be completed — and the current family law courts are not fit for purpose.

“The childcare courts have been housed in temporary Victorian-era criminal courts since 2016.”