Court Judgments

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 February 2022

Tuesday, 8 February 2022

Questions (588)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

588. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice the number of drivers listed in court for driving while holding a mobile phone by District Court area in each of the years 2018 to 2021 and to date in 2022, which resulted in the case being struck out or dismissed due to the driver making a contribution to the court poor box; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6590/22]

Written answers

Minister for Justice

I have contacted the Courts Service for the information requested by the Deputy and have been advised of the below information. It should be noted that, where a Court Area is absent from a report, this should be read as a zero value for that Court Area. As the Deputy will appreciate, it is solely a matter for the presiding judge to determine if a case is struck out or dismissed and if such a strike out or dismissal is on foot of a contribution to the court poor box.

I have been advised that reasons for dismissals/strike outs may not be recorded by the judge in each case on the Courts Service system and that recording of same is a matter of judicial discretion. Further, a person may have had an offence struck out or dismissed in more than one court area so would be displayed more than once in this report.

Court Area	Jan – Dec 2018	Jan – Dec 2019	Jan – Dec 2020	Jan – Dec 2021
BALLINASLOE		1
CARLOW				1
CORK CITY	2	1
DUBLIN METROPOLITAN DISTRICT	6	6	5	6
DUNDALK	1
DUNGARVAN	1
LONGFORD				1
LOUGHREA				2
MACROOM	1
MULLINGAR	1
TUAM		1	1	1
TOTAL	12	9	6	11

For comparison purposes, the Courts Service have provided the following information on the total number of persons listed to appear in each Court Area for the offence of driving whilst holding a mobile phone. Again, a person may be listed in Court for that year in one or more Court Areas so would be displayed more than once in this report.

Court Area	2018	2019	2020	2021
AN DAINGEAN	1	1	0	0
AN CLOCHAN LIATH	0	3	1	0
AN FAL CARRACH	1	1	0	1
ACAILL	0	0	0	1
ARDEE	19	36	12	25
ARKLOW	20	24	11	34
ATHLONE	46	42	25	57
ATHY	13	20	10	20
BALLAGHADERREEN	4	2	0	1
BALLINA	13	43	34	33
BALLINASLOE	31	19	20	21
BALLYSHANNON	9	4	6	8
BANDON	30	46	27	48
BANTRY	7	10	6	4
BEAL AN MHUIRTHEAD	4	5	1	2
BRAY	60	78	44	60
BUNCRANA	27	32	31	34
CAHIRCIVEEN	4	3	4	5
CARLOW	75	93	104	181
CARNDONAGH	2	3	3	3
CARRICK ON SHANNON	19	36	19	16
CARRICK ON SUIR	7	5	1	16
CARRICKMACROSS	102	81	31	50
CASHEL	38	39	22	39
CASTLEBAR	27	65	90	81
CASTLEREA	12	4	1	3
CAVAN	63	65	44	51
CLIFDEN	2	4	4	5
CLONAKILTY	15	15	8	11
CLONMEL	18	18	16	49
CORK CITY	361	371	190	314
DOIRE AN FHEICH	2	2	5	6
DONEGAL	4	9	3	3
DROGHEDA	46	45	41	72
DUBLIN METROPOLITAN DISTRICT	1218	1431	821	1104
DUNDALK	52	50	35	54
DUNGARVAN	34	39	17	75
ENNIS	168	109	51	156
FERMOY	43	45	20	34
GALWAY	377	272	176	219
GOREY	81	147	61	126
GORT	55	32	13	19
KENMARE	1	0	0	0
KILCOCK	24	23	0	0
KILKENNY	107	121	55	139
KILLALOE	9	11	4	10
KILLARNEY	74	69	26	54
KILLORGLIN	2	2	1	3
KILRUSH	16	15	7	5
LETTERKENNY	18	31	49	62
LIMERICK	476	430	295	182
LISMORE	7	9	4	3
LISTOWEL	18	15	17	23
LONGFORD	35	55	40	68
LOUGHREA	45	43	20	48
MACROOM	46	44	17	25
MALLOW	77	56	61	64
MANORHAMILTON	2	2	0	0
MEATH	90	114	78	186
MIDLETON	88	94	68	117
MONAGHAN	14	19	12	15
MULLINGAR	29	23	8	36
NA GLEANNTA	0	0	1	0
NAAS	248	340	157	289
NENAGH	11	26	26	52
NEWCASTLE WEST	120	93	53	72
PORTLAOISE	186	198	66	147
ROSCOMMON	41	32	19	18
SKIBBEREEN	4	1	1	0
SLIGO	62	106	42	25
STROKESTOWN	13	6	3	2
THURLES	24	48	26	47
TIPPERARY	21	24	9	14
TRALEE	134	121	96	129
TUAM	62	51	27	21
TUBBERCURRY	8	15	13	13
TULLAMORE	91	64	38	69
VIRGINIA	27	41	31	34
WATERFORD CITY	72	176	112	210
WESTPORT	7	5	0	0
WEXFORD	158	166	115	154
WICKLOW	28	37	28	52
YOUGHAL	7	6	2	6
Total	5612	6081	3635	5435

I am advised that figures for 2022 are not presently available; however, for the Deputy's information, the Courts Service has a dedicated email address for the provision of information to members of the Houses of the Oireachtas at: [e-mail].