Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 13 Apr 2000

Vol. 518 No. 2

Written Answers. - Garda Operations.

Ivor Callely

Question:

122 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the progress made to reduce the amount of time spent by gardaí in court and to maximise time on operational duties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11247/00]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

I assume the Deputy is referring to section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1997.

This section allows gardaí, in respect of arrests other than those executed under a warrant, to give evidence by certificate of certain procedural matters, including evidence relating to arrest, charge and caution with the purpose of relieving them from the obligation of attending in person in court to give such evidence orally. The certificate is tendered in court by a Garda court presenter.

The Garda authorities have advised me that a Garda working group was established to assess the implications of these new provisions and that this resulted in a pilot scheme being developed to implement the provisions. This pilot scheme was initially confined to selected courts, specifically Bridewell courts 44 and 46, which process approximately 33% of all court cases emanating from the Dublin metropolitan region.

A statistical study of the pilot scheme for 1999 revealed the following information: 19,077 cases were dealt with by the six court presenters attached to the Bridewell; 16,193 Garda members were not required to attend court as a result; 2,794 cases were dealt with to a conclusion by the court presenters, thereby eliminating the need for the arresting Garda member to attend court at any time during the processing of these cases; hearing dates were fixed for a further 2,021 cases and it was only on this date that the arresting member was required to attend court; and warrants were issued in 3,014 cases.

To date this year the pilot scheme has resulted in 6,996 cases being dealt with by the court presenters. This has resulted in 5,967 Garda members not being required to attend court.

The Garda authorities have also advised that the court presenters pilot scheme has resulted in more members being available for operational duties in their home stations. The success to date of the pilot scheme in Bridewell courts 44 and 46 has resulted in the scheme being extended to Bray, Kilmainham, Tallaght, Swords and Dún Laoghaire District Courts. A preliminary evaluation indicates that similar reductions in the number of Garda members required to attend these courts should also be achieved in these areas.