asked the Minister for Justice the number of prosecutions instituted for dangerous driving causing death or serious bodily harm under Section 53 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961, the number of cases tried in the circuit court with a jury and in the central criminal court with a jury, the number of convictions obtained in each court, and the amount of the costs involved for the State including witnesses' and other expenses.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Road Traffic Prosecutions.
36.
The total number of prosecutions instituted for dangerous driving causing death or serious bodily harm under Section 53 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961, during the period from the commencement of the Act, 1st October, 1961, up to the most recent date for which figures are available, 19th July, 1962, was 167. The number of cases tried in the Circuit Court with a jury was 41, in four of which there were convictions. The number tried in the Central Criminal Court with a jury was one, in which there was not a conviction.
One? Did the Minister say one?
Yes. The number tried in the Central Criminal Court with a jury was one, in which there was not a conviction.
With regard to the question of costs and expenses, I am told that the compilation of this information would take some time and a fair amount of trouble and unless the Deputy is satisfied that it would serve a sufficiently good public purpose to justify repeating the question after the Dáil reassembles, I would not be inclined to do anything further in the matter.
37.
asked the Minister for Justice how many prosecutions have been taken under Section 53 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961 and, of these, how many have been transferred for trial on the motion of the Attorney General to the Central Criminal Court from outside the City of Dublin circuit jurisdiction.
The number of prosecutions which have been taken under Section 53 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961 from the date of the commencement of the Act, 1st October, 1961, to the most recent date for which figures are available, 19th July, 1962, was 2,649. Of these, one case has been transferred for trial, on the motion of the Attorney General, to the Central Criminal Court and one on the application of the defendant.
Is it not a public scandal that of 2,649 prosecutions that have taken place under this Act, one is a prosecution of a strenuous critic of the Government in this Oireachtas and of that 2,649 cases, one case——
Is the Deputy asking a question?
I am, Sir. The question I am asking is, if this is not a stinking scandal. That is the question. One case is transferred on the motion of the Attorney General and in respect of that case the judge withdraws one charge from the jury and the other charge the jury takes under consideration for three minutes and then rejects contemptuously. If that is not a disgraceful travesty of the fair administration of the law, I do not know what is.
Transferred in the interest of the accused.
Out of the 2,649 cases, this one is transferred in the interest of the accused, although the accused appeared in person and by counsel to say he did not think so.
This is a speech, not a question.
I just want to point out that of the 2,649 cases to which the Deputy refers in his supplementary question, only 167 were indictable cases and I want to point out further that, as Deputy Dillon himself well knows, because he debated this provision with me in this House when the last Courts of Justice Bills were going through the House last year, this provision with regard to the transferring of cases from the local circuit court to the Central Criminal Court was inserted and is operated as often as not and indeed more often than not in the interest of the accused person.
Arising out of that reply, the purpose of this Oireachtas was to invest the Attorney General with the power to use this exceptional power where it was in the interest of the accused person but we have now the fact——
Is this a question?
Yes, and I am going to ask it even though you do not want it asked. This is the question: We now have by experience 2,649 prosecutions, of which 167 are for indictable offences. Of all those, one——
Surely, that is not a question?
This is the form in which I choose to put the question, Sir. This is the form in which I am going to put it. This is a scandal—a scandal—and I am going to expose it. One only person is returned for trial on the ground, by the Attorney General, that it is in the interest of the accused, he, being a member of this Oireachtas, a distinguished professor of a university, appearing personally and by counsel to the court to say that he does not think it is. Is that justice?
The Deputy is making a very long speech.
It was not in his interest. It was a gross abuse of the power by the Attorney General and he ought to resign. He is a public scandal. He is a public scandal and it is time it was said.
I want to say in reply to that simulated indignation——
It is not simulated.
Of course it is. I want to say that the Attorney General in these matters acts with a particular regard to the interests of the accused and I think any reasonable person would be satisfied that in this case he acted in that fashion.
He acted in a scandalous fashion.
He acts when the accused is not professionally represented. Did the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Lands say something and will he repeat it? I should like to hear him.