Courts Service

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 February 2022

Tuesday, 1 February 2022

Questions (604)

John Paul Phelan

Question:

604. Deputy John Paul Phelan asked the Minister for Justice if her Department, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Courts Service or any other public body produce annually a categorisation of the amount of different types of criminal prosecutions taken under different headings and a breakdown of the number of convictions achieved and the range of sentences handed down upon conviction under these categories; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4728/22]

Written answers

Minister for Justice

As the Deputy will appreciate, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is an independent law officer under the Prosecution of Offences Act 1974 (as amended) and I have no role in the Office of the DPP and I am unable to comment on whether or not the DPP provides information on prosecutions.

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, officials from my Department have made enquiries and the Courts Service has advised that information pertaining to annual statistics on criminal prosecutions are published in their annual report which can be found at the following link: www.courts.ie/annual-report

For the Deputy’s information, the Courts Service provides a dedicated email address for the provision of information to members of the Houses of the Oireachtas [e-mail] .