Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 March 2019
516. Deputy Noel Grealish asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the offence categories in respect of which fines were imposed by the courts in each of the years 2016 to 2018; the offence categories in respect of which fines were imposed but were not paid in the same period by the number and monetary values in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13323/19]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service, which is independent in exercising its functions, which include the provision of information on the courts system.
However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the Courts Service has advised that courts statistics are not compiled in such a way as to provide the information sought by the Deputy. There are thousands of offence categories in respect of which fines can be imposed by the court and this information could only be obtained by the examination of individual court files which would require the expenditure of a disproportionate amount of staff time and resources.
