Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 September 2020
164. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice the number of drivers disqualified in court per year in 2018, 2019 and up to 31 July 2020; the value of the fines imposed by the court; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24632/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy is aware, under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service, which is independent in exercising its functions, which include the provision of information on the courts system. However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have made enquiries with the Courts Service.
The number of disqualification orders and the number of persons who were disqualified for 2018, 2019 and January to July 2020 is detailed in table 1 below. This table reports for any offence where a disqualification order was imposed.
TABLE 1
|
Year |
No. of Orders |
No. of Persons |
|
Jan – Dec 2018 |
14,155 |
9,499 |
|
Jan – Dec 2019 |
14,769 |
9,699 |
|
Jan – July 2020 |
5,563 |
3,811 |
In addition, the number of persons and the number and value of fines imposed by the Court is shown in table 2 below. It should be noted that a person may have been disqualified but a fine may not have been imposed.
TABLE 2
|
Year |
No. of Persons |
No. of Fines |
Value of fines |
|
Jan – Dec 2018 |
7,928 |
9,950 |
€3,619,580.07 |
|
Jan – Dec 2019 |
7,857 |
9,640 |
€3,474,267.80 |
|
Jan – July 2020 |
2,988 |
3,607 |
€1,295,711.31 |
I am informed by the Courts Service that a project is underway to provide for electronic transfer of disqualification orders to the relevant agency once the time period to lodge an appeal has passed, and no appeal has been lodged. I am further informed that this project is being progressed under the oversight of the Circuit and District Courts Operations Directorate.
I understand that this project is being pursued by the Courts Service independently of the work ongoing in An Garda Síochána to progress the mobility project.
