Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 3 Oct 1995

Vol. 456 No. 3

Written Answers. - Judical Review Applications.

Liz O'Donnell

Ceist:

20 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Justice the number of applications for judicial review of decisions of the Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute that have been successful in each of the last three years; the number that were based on lapse of time; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10178/95]

Minister for Justice (Mrs. Owen)

Records of the total number of judicial review applications instituted in the High Court are maintained on the basis of the legal year which runs from 1 August to 31 July. The numbers of such applications instituted in the last three legal years are set out as follows: 1993/94, 443; 1992/93, 371; 1991/92, 362.

The other information requested by the Deputy is not readily available and could only be compiled by an examination of each individual court file. To obtain it would require intensive examination of each judicial review case file to ascertain the grounds on which the judicial review was taken and to interpret the judgment of the court to assess whether the review could be categorised as "successful". This would require the allocation of disproportionate staff resources away from other legal work.