Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 12 December 2012
157. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the total value of monetary fines handed down by the courts in 2011 and of this, the percentage directed to be paid to charities and specifically the Garda Benevolent Trust Fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55816/12]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998 management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service and I have no role in the matter. Section 4(3) of the 1998 Act provides that the Courts Service is independent in the performance of its functions, which includes the provision of statistics.
However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the Courts Service has informed me that the total value of fines imposed by the District Court in 2011 was €38,031,000.00. However, it should be noted that in the same period, a total of €12,833,000.00 worth of fines imposed were reversed as a result of a further application to court. Fines imposed by courts are criminal sanctions generally payable to the Exchequer or, failing this, to the appropriate agency or authority nominated within the specific legislation that was breached and gave rise to a fine. Fines are not paid to charities and no fines monies were paid to the Garda Benevolent Fund in 2011.
As the Deputy will be aware, funds are also paid from time to time to charities from the court’s poor box. The court poor box is a non-statutory system used mostly by the District Courts to impose a financial charge on a defendant to be used for a charitable purpose, usually instead of imposing a criminal conviction. Payments made to the court poor box are accounted for by the court office concerned and the accounting procedures are subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Generally, charities are the recipients of poor box contributions but the decision is solely at the discretion of the Judge who is independent in the matter of sentencing, as in other matters concerning the exercise of judicial functions, subject only to the Constitution and the law. I am informed by the Courts Service that in 2011, €1,733,641.85 was paid into court as a result of poor box orders and of this amount, €28,138.00 was paid to the Garda Benevolent Fund.
In 2005, the Law Reform Commission examined the matter in its report entitled The Court Poor Box: Probation of Offenders (LRC 75-2005). The Commission recognised both the negative and positive aspects of the court use of the poor box and accordingly recommended that the court poor box be replaced by a statutory reparation fund. A key element of the LRC recommendation was that the reparation fund should be ringfenced and used to assist programmes aimed at preventing offending behaviour and for the purpose of assisting victims of crime. The Commission was of the view that the reparation fund should remain linked to the criminal justice process and thus broadly adhere to the principles of restorative justice. I intend to bring forward legislation in the near future to replace the Probation of Offenders Act 1907 with modern provisions dealing with community sanctions and the role of the Probation Service in the criminal justice system. In the context of that legislation, the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission in relation to the court poor box are being examined by my Department with a view to bringing forward proposals for a transparent statutory retribution scheme.
