I welcome my constituency colleague, Deputy John Moloney, to the Dáil Chamber in his ministerial capacity and I wish him well in health and happiness in that role.
I wish to address the current situation regarding outstanding warrants and court orders, committal applications and other applications, be they bench warrants or otherwise, that have gone unenforced. I do not have the exact figures to hand but I ask the Minister of State to provide the House with the up to date and exact figures. It seems to me there could be up to tens of thousands of bench warrants actively recorded which remain unexecuted. Many of these are committal applications on foot of court orders lawfully given and granted. I venture to suggest that among these tens of thousands could be many serious criminal cases which gives rise to questions of public safety where there may be suspects at large. These may be persons responsible for serious criminal offences who have been ordered to turn up in courts but have failed to do so. Whether any efforts are being made to track them down to bring them to court, to ensure compliance with the court order, is in doubt. A couple of years ago, the matter attracted the attention of the Comptroller and Auditor General who pointed to gross inefficiencies in the system. In expressing his concern, he recommended that certain action be taken. I would like to know what has happened since those remarks were made.
Earlier this year, a judge in a case in Donegal struck out an application for a bench warrant when it was discovered that it was over four years old. The judge felt that justice would not have been done by validating, implementing or executing a warrant which had been outstanding and unenforced for a period of four years. That is indicative of the type of problem which is bringing the justice system into disrepute. Is it a question of Garda resources? Is the Garda properly resourced to deal with these matters? Is priority being given in Garda districts to deal with such matters? Are specific officers designated in Garda areas with the responsibility of dealing with these matters? If it is not a question of Garda manpower or willpower, is there a problem with the computer system or other communications? Is there a difficulty in executing these warrants because Garda computer equipment is faulty, outdated or in need of review?
What reforms are in the offing? Earlier this year, the Fines Bill was listed on the schedule of legislative reform. That legislation would have the effect of allowing fines to be paid by instalments, as well as improving the means of assessing a person's ability to pay. If both these measures were introduced it might obviate the need for outstanding bench warrants or unenforced committal orders. Yet the Fines Bill has been withdrawn by the Government for reasons that have not been properly explained to the House.
In January this year, there were 35,000 outstanding bench warrants. How many of those have been executed since? What improvements have been made to reduce that figure? If we do not have targeted action to reduce these tens of thousands of outstanding warrants — many of them concerning bail and others concerning serious criminal charges — we are undermining the integrity of the criminal justice system. By not dealing with these issues, we will also be putting down a direct challenge to the authority of the courts.
I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to raise this matter and I thank the Minister of State for replying to it. I hope we can achieve a targeted reduction by way of adopting a strategic approach to this issue. In that way, by the end of this year, we can perhaps show that we have tackled the problem, thus averting a serious issue which is bringing the law into disrepute.
