A judge has hit out at the Probation Service for failure to have probation officers in court for the hearing of cases. Judge Eirinn McKiernan who was presiding over the district court in Trim prefaced her remarks by saying she was not criticising individual probation officers. She said there was an ongoing problem with the absence of officers who were needed to deal with the fixing of appointments with individuals coming before the court on various charges. “It’s not the fault of the probation officers, it’s due to a lack of resources. It’s affecting the running of the court”, she added.
