Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 February 2014
156. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the amount of money collected by Swords District Court from persons appearing in court making donations to the court poor box in the years 2011, 2012, 2013 and to date in 2014. [8508/14]
View answerThe 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.
In order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the table provides details of court poor box funds collected by Swords District Court for the period concerned.
|
Year |
Amount € |
|
2014 (to date ) |
2,950 |
|
2013 |
45,390 |
|
2012 |
36,780 |
|
2011 |
28,620 |
The Deputy will be aware that the Government recently approved the drafting of the Criminal Justice (Community Sanctions) Bill and the publication of the General Scheme of the Bill. The proposed legislation will abolish the Court Poor Box and replace it with a statutory Reparation Fund to provide for a fair, equitable and transparent system of reparation that will apply only to minor offences dealt with by the District Court.
