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A High Court judge has complained about the Plexiglass shields erected on judicial benches in the Four Courts in response to the Covid 19 pandemic.
Ms Justice Deirdre Murphy, who was listening to the request in Court One of the Round Hall at the Four Courts complex, said the perspex screens that are directly in front of the judge and registrar are half an inch thick and have an impact in the ability to listen.
Screens that were placed in front of the judge and clerk, but did not run the length of the bank are part of the measures introduced in court in response to the Covid 19 pandemic.
Another judge in the Four Courts last week in a sunlight-emitting courtroom said the screen in front of him was distracting, since he could see his own reflection while conducting the proceedings.
Ms. Justice Murphy was listening to a request from a Limerick prison official seeking to present a legal challenge to the Prison Service’s decision that he sustained an injury sustained when an inmate resisted attempts to remove him from his cell to Going to court was not a workplace injury. .
David Kennedy SC for Prison Officer Michael Delaney, based in Limerick Prison, told the court that his client has the right to investigate the decision-making process as a result of which he lost. The injury, the lawyer said, was a shoulder injury serious enough that the prison officer needed surgery.
The prison official has initiated a process against the Prison Service, the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General.
The prison officer in an affidavit read to the court said he was in charge of the D-wing in Limerick prison on August 30, 2019 and that he was arranging to escort the prisoners to the Limerick court. One prisoner became aggressive when an attempt was made to remove him from his cell and Mr. Delaney was bitten, hit in the head, and sustained a shoulder injury in the violent fight that followed.
He later had to undergo surgery on his right shoulder and was unable to work. In November of that year, he was told that he had exhausted his right to sick leave and a decision was made that he was not entitled to use the Prison Service’s policy for occupational injuries.
He claims that a finding was made regarding a colleague assaulted in the same incident that the officer had sustained an occupational injury.
He has claimed in his judicial review procedures that the decision was irrational and irrational and is seeking an order to overturn the decision and refuse to treat his absence from work as related to occupational injuries.
Ms. Justice Murphy granted permission to file a lawsuit.
The case will return to court on June 16.
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