Courthouse closure “later this year”

This is according to Justice Minister David Ford, who had been responding to a query by local MLA George Robinson during Minister’s question time at Stormont.

Mr Ford said: “Limavady courthouse is not scheduled to close until after the reform of court boundaries and the creation of a single jurisdiction for County Court and Magistrates’ Court business. The reform of court boundaries is planned within the forthcoming faster, fairer justice Bill, which will be introduced in the Assembly later this year.”

The Minister said that he could not “give an estimated cost of maintaining the building after closure,” after being further quizzed by George Robinson, who also asked Mr Ford to take “into consideration that it would be a viable asset if there was a security alert at the Londonderry courthouse.”

The Justice Minister said: “I am afraid that I cannot give the current estimate of what it will cost to maintain the building after closure. It will certainly be significantly less than the running costs of the building, and it will mitigate what would have been a very significant requirement for capital investment under the Disability Discrimination Act.”