Vol. 362 No. 13
asked the Minister for Justice the number of appeals and petitions before him against court decisions for consideration from Limerick City District Court; the reasons for the delay in processing them; and the value of the warrants outstanding for collection in the area.
175.
asked the Minister for Justice the number of court warrants from Limerick City District Court which he waived or reduced during his term of office to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter giving percentage acceptance of ministerial petitions in this area in comparison with District court areas in Dublin, Cork and Galway.
Limerick East): I propose to take Questions Nos. 174 and 175 together.
The delay at present in processing petitions is due to a significant increase in the number of petitions being received from persons throughout the State as a whole. Additional staff has been provided in the petitions section of my Department in order to clear arrears that had built up there.
The number of warrants awaiting issue in the Limerick District Court office is 3,500 with a face value of £140,000. The number of warrants in respect of the same area in the hands of the Garda awaiting execution is approximately 4,500 with an approximate face value of £150,000.
Statistics relating to petitions are not kept in the form requested by the Deputy and their compilation in that form would involve a disproportionate amount of staff time. Figures in relation to the number of cases mitigated and refused are available on a county by county basis only. The percentage of mitigations on foot of petitions dealt with during my term of office for Limerick, Dublin, Cork and Galway (city and county in each case) was 62.6 per cent, 53.9 per cent, 69.8 per cent and 54 per cent respectively. The number of mitigations in relation to Limerick was 301.
