Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 April 2019
273. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 217 and 219 of 2 April 2019, the reason the information sought is not readily available in view of the fact that such information was produced in response to Parliamentary Question No. 35 of 23 June 2011. [16565/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs outlined in my recent response to the Deputy, the information being sought about numbers of prosecutions relating to jurors or witness intimidation is not available within my Department.
The Deputy will appreciate that the Central Statistics Office (CSO), as the national statistical agency, is responsible for the compilation and publication of the recorded crime statistics in Ireland. However, this function does not extend to the collection of prosecution data, which is a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions. That Office operates independently of me and my Department.
However, in the absence of any official statistics, and as indicated in my previous reply, I have requested a report from the Garda authorities regarding proceedings taken for the offence in question and I will contact the Deputy directly once these figures are to hand.
Notwithstanding the above, if a member of the public has any concerns in relation to the intimidation of jurors or witnesses, I would strongly encourage them to contact An Garda Síochána as soon as possible. I can assure the Deputy that Gardaí will be on hand to provide appropriate advice about how best to proceed in those circumstances. Alternatively, Gardaí can be contacted by using the Garda Confidential Line, Tel: 1800 666 111. The Garda Confidential Line provides a ready means of reporting crimes to Gardaí anonymously.
