Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 30 Mar 1993

Vol. 428 No. 5

Written Answers. - Courts Budget.

Mary Harney

Ceist:

40 Miss Harney asked the Minister for Justice the total budget for the courts service for 1993 including staff costs, premises and other expenditure; and the total income derived by the State from the services provided by the courts, including court fees and stamp duties on court documents.

Minister for Justice (Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn)

The 1993 Courts Vote (No. 22) contains provision for gross expenditure of £18,608,000 made up as follows:

Salaries, Wages and Allowances	£13,440,000
Travel and Subsistence	£900,000
Incidental Expenses	£253,000
Postal and Telecommunications Services	£894,000
Office Machinery and Other Office Supplies	£821,000
Courthouses
(a) capital expenditure — provincial courthouses	£1,250,000
(b) maintenance expenditure — Dublin city centre courthouses	£671,000
(c) heat, light, fuel, furniture/ fittings security in Dublin city centre courts	£379,000
Total	£18,608,000

The Courts Vote does not include the following expenditure, which also arises in relation to the Courts:

—cost of the salaries etc. of the headquarters staff in the Department of Justice, engaged in central management of the courts service;

—capital expenditure by the Office of Public Works in relation to the Dublin city centre Courts;

—expenditure by Local Authorities on provincial courthouses;

—judicial salaries and pensions, which are payable from the Central Fund.

The receipts from Courts fines, Court stamp fees, etc. in 1992 were as follows:

	Amount
Court fines	£7,400,000
Court stamp fees and other Court fees	£10,506,000
Miscellaneous receipts	£40,000
Court percentages (cash)	£19,000
Total	£17,965,000

The above figure for court fines includes the court fines appropriated-in-aid of the Courts Vote amounting to £1,069,000. Other court fines, e.g. for Road Traffic Act offences, Revenue offences, Fisheries fines etc. are paid over to the appropriate Account or Vote i.e. the Central Motor Tax Account, the Revenue Vote, the Marine Vote, respectively, for the examples mentioned. Court stamp fees and court percentages are paid to the Exchequer.