Court Procedures

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 October 2013

Tuesday, 15 October 2013

Questions (273)

Thomas P. Broughan

Question:

273. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Questions Nos 138 of 26 September 2012 and 426 of 8 October 2013, if he will provide a breakdown of the courts in the 24 districts managed by the Courts Service that are enforcing section 63 of the Road Traffic Act 2010; and the level of enforcement taking place in each of those districts. [43556/13]

Written answers

Minister for Justice and Equality

As the Deputy is aware, the Courts Service has put in place arrangements to ensure that summonses issued since May 2012 include wording to advise persons charged with an offence under the Road Traffic Acts to bring their driving licence together with a photocopy of the licence when they are attending court. The conduct of any case before a court is a matter for the presiding judge. I am informed that the Courts Service has communicated with the judiciary to facilitate an arrangement whereby defendants who appear before the court are requested in court to produce their driving licence, and a copy thereof, to the court registrar for the purpose of having the driving licence number recorded. In this regard, where in accordance with the directions of the judge, a licence is produced in any District Court throughout the country to the court registrar, the licence details are recorded.

The Deputy will be aware that, 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 table below provides a breakdown of the number of defendants convicted of penalty point offences and the number of driving licences recorded in each Court District in respect of those convictions for the period March 2012 to August 2013.

District Number	No. of defendants convicted	No. of driving licence numbers recorded	% of Licences (rounded to nearest %)
1 - Donegal	175	29	17%
2 - Sligo/Donegal/Leitrim	337	75	22%
3 - Mayo	95	22	23%
4 - Roscommon / Galway	675	180	27%
5 - Cavan / Monaghan	236	41	17%
6 - Drogheda / Dundalk	372	57	15%
7 - Galway	412	122	30%
8 - Tipperary	110	30	27%
9 - Westmeath / Longford	470	173	37%
10 - Meath/Louth	251	53	21%
12 - Clare	395	110	28%
13 - Limerick	831	230	28%
15 - Laois /Offaly	363	103	28%
16 - Wicklow	664	123	19%
17 - Kerry	205	38	19%
18 - West Cork	335	129	39%
19 - Cork City	1,243	436	35%
20 - North / East Cork	658	164	25%
21 - South Tipperary /West Waterford	195	61	31%
22 - Carlow / Kilkenny	456	103	23%
23 - Wexford	526	311	59%
24 - Waterford City	383	104	27%
25 -Kildare	777	148	19%
Dublin Metropolitan District	6,329	3,811	60%
TOTAL	16,493	6,653	40%

Note: The Courts Service report does not include convictions in respect of mandatory court appearances. Where a defendant appeared in court in a District on more than one occasion the defendant is recorded once on the report.