Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for allowing me to raise this matter, which is of particular importance in the Cork area. I wish to share my time with Deputy Dan Wallace.
Adjournment Debate. - Transfer of Cork Court Cases to Dublin.
I am sure that is satisfactory.
The automatic right to transfer in the court system is causing major upheaval in the Cork area. Many criminals coming before the courts have consecutive crimes on the list and are well known to local gardaí and judges. Because they fear the severity of the sentence which may be passed on them, they feel that if they transfer their cases to Dublin they get an easier sentence. Research has shown this to be the case.
One also finds the same hard core of people seeking to transfer their cases to Dublin. This has the added advantages that the accused will be allowed out on bail to come to court in Dublin and the case will be postponed for a year to 18 months. That also gives the person the opportunity to commit crime when on bail.
We need speedy justice in Cork but we are not getting it at present. That is not the fault of the Garda or the legal people but of the system which is allowed in that area. On a given day in the Cork Circuit Court, up to 90 per cent of cases will contain a request to transfer to Dublin, which equals about 30 cases per session. This has become the norm rather than the exception.
The Minister should consider the cost to the State in such instances. I call this the Cork to Dublin stagecoach, full of legal personnel, witnesses, defendants and gardaí going to the big smoke, so that the accused can pursue the possibility of a lighter sentence in Dublin. The records show there have been no criminal cases in Cork in the last few years, which is a damning indictment of the system. During all this time the accused is on bail and there is substantial evidence that some of those on bail commit further crime.
It is incredible that the Government would allow this exasperating, costly and inexplicable automatic right to transfer cases to continue in its present form. Action is now needed from this Minister. She should consider the amount of time the local State solicitor puts into a case, only to have it transferred out of his jurisdiction and the frustration of the local gardaí, who must come to Dublin to hear the accused enter a not guilty plea and see him let out on bail to again commit crimes. There should be no automatic right of transfer of cases from Cork to Dublin. Also, two Circuit Court judges should be appointed in Cork, because that would save the cost incurred in transporting these people to Dublin.
I thank Deputy O'Keeffe for allowing me to speak on this matter. The facility which allows people to transfer to Dublin is a farcical loophole in the law. Gardaí, witnesses, family, offenders and those who have been wronged come to Dublin and are unaware whether they will be here for a day, a week or a month. This is most unsatisfactory and huge resources are being lost to the State, especially in terms of gardaí being out of the city when they are badly needed in Cork. In one case, a peace commissioner who is over 80 and has carried out his duty for many years was informed that, because there was a query by the defence as to the signing of the warrants, he would have to come to Dublin to give evidence.
This is a crazy situation. The Minister inherited the matter and we have been pursuing it for a number of years. There are many things she cannot do but this matter should be addressed immediately. People and the judiciary in Cork are incensed that accused persons can use this loophole, which is of no benefit to the law abiding people of Cork.
I thank the Deputies for raising this issue, which is of considerable concern to many people in Cork. In accordance with section 31 of the Courts Act, 1981, when a person is charged with an indictable offence triable in a Circuit Court other than Dublin it is open to the prosecution or the accused to apply to the judge of the Circuit Court to have the trial transferred to the Dublin circuit. Such applications must be granted under the provisions of the Act provided the party making the application gives seven days' notice to the other party of the intention to apply.
A substantial number of criminal trials are, by virtue of this section, transferred to the Dublin Circuit Court every year and more cases are transferred from Cork than from any other Circuit Court. The effect of such transfers is to increase the criminal case load in the Dublin Circuit Court thus contributing to the present delays in the hearing of such cases. These transfers would in many cases involve additional expense to the State.
I am concerned by delays in the hearing of court cases and in particular in hearing criminal cases. Any delay in hearing criminal cases gives rise to much anxiety on the part of victims of crime, particularly where the defendant is remanded on bail. Such defendants, whose cases cannot be heard for lack of a judge, are free to commit further crimes if there is a delay in the disposal of their cases. I am also concerned by additional and perhaps unnecessary expense to the State being incurred. For these reasons, the accused's right to transfer a case to the Dublin Circuit Court was examined in the context of the review of the Courts and Court Officers Bill, 1994, and I subsequently obtained Government approval to include, in the Bill being prepared in my Department at present, provisions which will allow for the transfer of cases in certain specified circumstances only. I expect to introduce that Bill early in this session. The Minister has already made a number of statements on the ongoing work on the Bill which, as I have said, will be ready fairly shortly.