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InvestigatesThreats In CourtA DEATH THREAT to a member of staff, separate threats made to judges, and registrars hitting the panic button are among the serious incidents to have taken place in Ireland’s courts last year, with one District Court judge saying some colleagues will no longer allow a court to sit without a garda presence.
The Journal Investigates can reveal that 23 security and safety issues were logged internally by the Courts Service last year, with some leading to arrests.
Separately, members of the Fórsa trade union who work in the courts also recorded 36 incidents in 2025 involving violence, harassment and aggression.
Our investigation found a significant number of incidents were recorded in 2025, from emailed threats aimed at judges to aggressive encounters in courts and court offices.
It highlights the type of issues faced by judges and courts staff, and also shows that the problem is not limited to the major courts in Dublin.
One District Court judge who spoke to The Journal Investigates said of rising levels of aggression in courts: “There is no doubt about it.”
People are just, generally speaking, aggressive now. It just seems to be the way that people are.
“People are demanding. People spent an awful lot of time alone or not in social settings in Covid and that was one of the results of it – almost unregulated or unchecked behaviour.”
The judge, who has years of experience on the bench, said: “Things are different now, there is not the same level of respect that would have been there ten years ago. That is something that has certainly decreased, and you would see a discernible difference between rural or provincial court as opposed to court in Dublin – they [Dublin courts] are very trying places.”
The judge said that courts often have to deal with people with mental health issues even though they are not equipped to, and that they could see the “telltale signs” in some of those attending court, such as people arriving from custody on medication, which they said is likely to start wearing off by lunchtime, meaning they tend to be dealt with as early as possible in the list.
The judge also referred to “organised disturbers” who “come to court to cause trouble” and added that many judges felt a garda presence in court was essential.
“You have to fight continuously [to ensure] that there is a garda in every single court no matter what is going on – a lot of my colleagues wouldn’t sit if the court garda wasn’t in.”
They added that the “curious thing” is that days involving criminal cases are safer as gardaí are present. “The day you are most at risk is family law day”.
Last year the Courts Service logged incidents in courthouses in Limerick, Longford, Sligo and Ennis, as well as in major courts buildings including the Criminal Courts of Justice and the Four Courts in the capital.
The records released under Freedom of Information to The Journal Investigates highlight the sometimes fractious nature of interactions with those attending court – and that threats and intimidation can also take place outside the courtroom.
For example, the Courts Service records say that last September, a “member of the public emailed the Dun Laoghaire court office mailbox requesting money/payments and included [a] threat to kill in the email.”
A similar situation unfolded at Phoenix House, a main administrative hub for the Courts Service, in central Dublin last June. According to the record: “Email received from a member of the public to the Court Office email threatening violence against the High Court with threats to individuals therein also.”
And again, a month later in July, this time at the Four Courts: “A solicitor contacted the office concerning a threat made against a judge via email. An Garda Síochana were provided with full details.”
Also in July, this time in Clonmel, an “aggressive customer” attended the court office, with their behaviour ultimately leading to an arrest. Gardaí later confirmed they attended the scene of an incident of an alleged assault at a premises in Clonmel on that date and a woman in her 40s was arrested and charged, later appearing in front of Clonmel District Court.
The records show that courts staff have also pressed the panic button when faced with agitated or aggressive behaviour. One example was at the Four Courts last September, the Courts Service records say.
“The respondent was becoming increasingly aggressive in court when speaking to the judge, including speaking over her. The registrar pressed the panic alarm.”
In another incident at the Four Courts, this time last December, a 25-minute-long incident occurred. According to the redacted record, a member of the public entered the courtroom during a Commercial Court hearing and produced a document which they said needed to be shown to the judge, before making a number of allegations.
According to the record, they “appeared to be very agitated and [the] staff member felt uncomfortable” due to both body language and the tone of voice used. The situation continued as court procedures were explained to the person, and ultimately a “senior manager then discreetly pushed the panic button”, and the person left soon afterwards.
Last December the President of the High Court, Mr Justice David Barniville, set out his concerns about increasingly volatile behaviour by litigants and others in a notice posted on the Courts Service website.
The judge said he was issuing the notice “in light of the increasing number of incidents of extremely disruptive and, on occasions, violent conduct in court by some litigants in person and their supporters”.
He also outlined examples of disruptive conduct and the measures open to the court to tackle the problem, including removal from the court.
“If public confidence in the administration of justice is to be maintained, it is paramount that the authority of the Court is respected,” he said.
A similar notice was issued, again in December, by the President of the Court of Appeal, Ms Justice Caroline Costello.
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The records provided to The Journal Investigates also highlight other incidents. In Castlebar in Co Mayo, there was “commotion prior to a case being heard outside courtroom”, with a solicitor telling a court that a scheduled matter wouldn’t be going ahead as one of the people involved “had been accosted while coming into [the] courtroom.”
There was also a three-person brawl in the foyer of the Children’s Court in Smithfield last August, a garda injured in an altercation with a prisoner in a holding cell at the CCJ, and in another incident a court registrar pressed the duress alarm at the CCJ “because members of the public who had left the court were shouting and screaming in the Court”.
In Sligo courthouse last May a member of the public “became verbally abusive to a CS staff member insulting her and waving clenched fists at her”, while at Longford courthouse last June a member of the public came forward and hit a defendant, who had been consulting with their solicitor on a balcony, in the back of the head, “pushing all parties forward”.
It’s understood gardaí conducted enquiries into the latter incident but that no complaint was received.
In another incident, this time from last December, a court staff member and a registrar at the Four Courts “felt threatened as a result of the actions of the member of the public” who had become verbally aggressive. The court was not in session at the time.
Fórsa, which represents staff up to higher executive officer level, said its members are also facing difficulties. Its AGM for members working in the courts, held last month, heard there were 36 incidents of violence, harassment and aggression last year – the single largest category of adverse event.
Two more incidents were recorded in January of this year.
Jim Mitchell of Fórsa’s courts branch, which represents hundreds of members, said very few incidents in which staff were involved were physical and that most involved verbal abuse.
“Our people are dealing with difficult people at a very difficult point in their lives, and they are on the frontline,” he said.
“It [incidents of aggression] is as much now as it ever was.
It definitely isn’t decreasing, I would say that.
Mitchell said there was “very good communication” between courts staff and the judiciary on matters of safety and security and that staff were trained to de-escalate tense situations as they developed.
“The courts are necessarily a reflection of society as well,” he said.
“The overcrowding in prisons is a reflection of this, the rise in public assaults would be a reflection of this. The courts system would tend to reflect that.”
Other incidents logged by the Courts Service in 2025 included one from last August when a person gained access to the Four Courts campus without undergoing security screening and filmed interactions with security staff and the members of An Garda Síochana present on site, later posting them on social media.
“[The] litigant was subsequently located by security and a member of An Garda Síochana assigned to the Four Courts campus and escorted from the site,” according to the records from the Courts Service.
A second incident happened just days later when a member of the public refused to undergo security screening at the Four Courts and rushed the vehicle entrance. Gardaí confirmed that a man in his 40s was arrested following a public order incident on that date and that he was subsequently charged.
At a protest outside the CCJ last November a disagreement led to a disturbance, “including shouting and video recording”, which stopped when the group was spoken to by a barrister for one of the people involved in the case.
A spokesperson for the Courts Service said: “Where there is online abuse of any staff member or a member of the judiciary, we request removal of such material via the relevant social media companies and also report it to AGS [An Garda Siochana] if posts enter into the area of threat or criminality.”
As for the frequency of those requests, the spokesperson said “We would ask a few times per year. They readily remove anything which might be a contempt of court, in breach of rules of court, in camera matters etc but are less likely now to remove simply abusive posts than they were in the past.”
A comparable Courts Service record for 2024 shows fewer incidents where court personnel were threatened, either inside or away from the courts complex.
However, one person was pepper sprayed at Dolphin House in Dublin in February 2024 after allegedly refusing to cooperate with gardaí who were investigating whether a fire at the courts complex had been started deliberately.
A knife was found by cleaners at the CCJ in April 2024 and in the same court in July 2024 a knife was detected in a bag at security screening.
The Courts Service said it liaises with the judiciary and gardaí about courthouse and courtroom security on “an ongoing basis” for every court area and court jurisdiction.
According to a Courts Service spokesperson: “Security is also kept under constant review at the senior management level and across the regions within the Courts Service as part of our commitment to addressing any challenges regarding security across the courts, as raised by the Judiciary, staff or other members of the legal community.”
The Courts Service is currently upgrading security across its buildings as a result of internal reviews and consultation with the Judiciary. The spokesperson said increased use of CCTV, security glass screens at public counters, and access control measures formed part of the overall security upgrades.
The Courts Service also referred to the deployment of additional garda resources at some court buildings, on a risk assessed basis, and the option of additional third-party security personnel.
There is also a formal incident reporting process through which security incidents or threats – including via email – are reported.
Gardaí said that security arrangements are operational matters handled within the framework of local policing and security protocols with the Courts Service.
One issue raised by the District Court judge who spoke to The Journal Investigates was the law on contempt, particularly relating to issues which occur in the courtroom. Contempt of court is anchored around ensuring people obey the decisions of a court, such as adhering to a court order or to guard against disruption in the courts themselves.
A report published in February last year, written by judges from various courts, made a recommendation that “consideration be given to the possibility of introducing legislation to put disruptive behaviour as a form of criminal contempt on a statutory footing.”
After the report was published the Chief Justice, Court Presidents and the Chief Executive Officer of the Courts Service established an Implementation Group to further develop and the Department of Justice said in looking at the recommendation on contempt it “will consider the law of contempt more generally and, as an initial step, discuss any possible reforms through the forum of the Litigants in Person Implementation Group.”
Reporter: Noel Baker • Editors: Sinead O’Carroll and Christine Bohan • Social Media: Cliodhna Travers • Main Image Design: Lorcan O’Reilly
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