A new courthouse complex has opened in Cork city at a cost of €35m.
The new building with its six courtrooms and ancillary facilities incorporates the former Model School on Anglesea Street.
Chief Justice of Ireland Frank Clarke attended today's official opening with Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan.
Mr Justice Clarke said Cork city now had "what are probably the best court facilities in the country" with the new and renovated buildings on Anglesea Street and the Washington Street courthouse.
"The improved facilities and the attractive design of the new building, complementing the historic structure, will help create an atmosphere beneficial to all who have business in the courts in Cork."
The new 8,500sq.m court complex will deal solely with circuit and district court criminal cases.
Built in 1865 in an Italianate style, the Model School functioned as a district courthouse for 20 years until it closed in 2015 when it was no longer fit for purpose.
Now fully renovated, it links to a new six-storey landmark building built on its former playground.
Facilities include six courtrooms, a 'vulnerable witness' suite, a legal practitioners’ room, a new public office and ten secure underground cells, each capable of holding four to six people.
The Courts Service said the complex had been future-proofed and will not be running at full capacity from day one.
The Anglesea Street courthouse project is the sixth of seven such projects undertaken by the Courts Service in conjuction with construction firm BAM as part of a €140m public-private partnership scheme.
According to a spokesman, this represents the largest single-investment in regional court structures in the history of the State, with projects now complete in Letterkenny, Wexford, Limerick, Drogheda, Waterford and Cork.
Work on the court facilities in Mullingar is due to be complete by the end of this year.
One notable feature of the project is the extensive conservation work carried out on the Model School.
This includes the reinstatement of part of the decorative entrance porch and carvings, repair of the English garden bond-red brick gables and replacement of 25,000 inappropriate red bricks put in place in the 1990s, one by one and by hand, with more suitable bricks sourced from the UK.
The tower on the Model School, which originally served as an observation point for shipping coming to the quays, has also undergone conservation work and is now lit at night.
Interestingly, the limestone cladding on the new multi-storey building came from Lecarrow quarry in Roscommon.
It was chosen to reflect the pale Cork limestone on many of the city's main buildings, including the Washington Street courthouse and City Hall.
