Ivor Callely
Ceist:121 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Justice the steps which are being taken to reduce the amount of Garda time spent in court attendance for minor offences; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Garda Court Attendances.
Proposals to reduce the amount of time spent in court, particularly in relation to minor offences, are the subject of on-going review by the Garda authorities and by my Department and a number of measures has been taken. For example, over the past number of years considerable progress has been made on computerised scheduling of court cases so that cases being dealt with by a particular garda are listed together for hearing so far as possible.
I might mention in particular the use of the summons procedure, whereby persons arrested for certain minor offences may, where it is practical to do so, be released and proceeded against by way of summons, instead of being charged and brought before the next sitting of the district court. This procedure is intended to reduce the amount of Garda time spent in court on adjournments.
The most recent measure taken is the introduction by the Garda authorities in December 1990 of a pilot vehicle rectification scheme in the DMA, which enables motorists to repair vehicle faults within a specified period as an alternative to prosecution and thereby reduces the amount of Garda attendance in court in such cases.