Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 April 2014
547. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will provide a breakdown, based on each court district, of the number of drivers in each month of 2014 to date who have appeared in court charged with offences under the Road Traffic Acts and avoided convictions because they agreed to make a donation to the court poor box. [18678/14]
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 below sets out by District the number of drivers who appeared in court charged with offences under the Road Traffic Acts and the outcome of whose cases resulted in payments to the Court Poor Box in January, February and March 2014.
|
District Number |
January |
February |
March |
Total |
|
District No 1 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
10 |
|
District No 2 |
19 |
13 |
11 |
43 |
|
District No 3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
|
District No 4 |
9 |
2 |
0 |
11 |
|
District No 5 |
2 |
7 |
2 |
11 |
|
District No 6 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
District No 7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
District No 8 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
District No 9 |
22 |
9 |
4 |
35 |
|
District No 10 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
District No 12 |
15 |
13 |
17 |
45 |
|
District No 13 |
5 |
15 |
9 |
29 |
|
District No 15 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
|
District No 16 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
District No 17 |
6 |
7 |
19 |
32 |
|
District No 18 |
13 |
18 |
7 |
38 |
|
District No 19 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
District No 20 |
19 |
8 |
29 |
56 |
|
District No 21 |
7 |
10 |
9 |
26 |
|
District No 22 |
6 |
4 |
1 |
11 |
|
District No 23 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
District No 24 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
District No 25 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Dublin Metropolitan District |
83 |
41 |
54 |
178 |
|
Total |
219 |
154 |
166 |
539 |
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.
