For a decade, the old courts system (until 1924), then the new Free State courts system, was based in the old viceregal apartments in Dublin Castle. In 1932, a rebuilt and remodelled Four Courts was opened again. However much of the decorative interior of the original building had been lost and, in the absence of documentary archives (some of which had been in the Public Records Office and others of which were among the vast amount of legal records lost also), and also because the new state did not have the funds, the highly decorative interior was not replaced. Two side wings were rebuilt further from the river to undo the problem caused by excessively narrow footpaths outside the building. However that change, and the removal of chimney-stacks, has removed some of the architectural unity and effect planned by Gandon in 1796.
Its exterior still shows the effects of the events of 1922, with its façade containing bullet holes, which deliberately were not removed to remind people of its complex history.