Dear Madam, - The intention of David Ford, the Minister of Justice for Northern Ireland, to close Enniskillen Courthouse, is as stupid as the decision of a former Government of Northern Ireland to close the important rail link to Enniskillen in 1957. Mr Ford seems to have a one-track mind hell-bent on slashing the budget for legal services.

Firstly, Mr Ford cut the allocation of monies for legal aid; then he decides to cut the number of courthouses in Northern Ireland. Both bad decisions which have rendered him totally out of touch with reality, and the object of widespread criticism, including that from the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Sir Declan Morgan.

In any government, it is important to have senior law officers who are legally trained. Fourteen of the seventeen Ministers of Home Affairs, who were responsible in the former Northern Ireland Parliament for justice matters, had received legal training, nine of whom were barristers, one of whom was a judge. Likewise, surely, the first Minister of Justice for Northern Ireland should have a legal background. Mr Ford was a social worker; and you might have thought, therefore, that his mind would be more finely attuned to the needs of the people.

In a speech on 7 June 2010, Mr Ford declared that one of his priorities, as the first minister responsible for justice in 38 years, was an ambition to provide “justice for all”. “I want to work with people on the ground to develop…local solutions to fit local needs.” Indeed, one of the stated aims of Mr Ford’s Department of Justice was “to ensure that everyone in Northern Ireland has access to justice, without undue delay.” Clearly, Mr Ford’s decision to close the courthouse in the border County town of Enniskillen, which has served the county properly for many years, will incur more cost for litigants in terms of the time taken to travel to Omagh and the cost of having to do so, and will lead to more “undue delay” in a court system that is already manifestly overcrowded.

In his letter to The Impartial Reporter of 26 February 2015, Enniskillen solicitor Reggie Ferguson clearly outlined the consequences of the effect on “local needs” occasioned by Mr Ford’s fallacious policy. Enniskillen is well served by a number of solicitors having offices within walking distance of the long-established Enniskillen Courthouse, and it is totally unreasonable, as well as unjust, to expect local lawyers and their clients to pay for travel almost thirty miles to Omagh, and back again, for every court appearance.

If David Ford supposes that closing so many courts in the Province is wise, then Charles Dickens’s Mr Bumble in Oliver Twist sums up Mr Ford’s policy well: “If the law supposes that, the law is an ass – an idiot.” It isn’t the law which is the ass here. Mr Ford should reconsider.

This year, we celebrate the 800th anniversary of the signing, by the despotic King John, of the Magna Carta of 1215, which clearly states, amongst its provisions (Clause 40), “To no man will we sell, or deny, or delay, right or justice.” Mr Ford, who has had no legal training, should be prevailed upon to reconsider his decision to close the Enniskillen Courthouse, since, by adhering to it, he will be denying and delaying even further the justice he himself so clearly promised to provide.

Yours faithfully, Neil C. Oliver, Castle Toppy Newtownards Co. Down