Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I wish to raise a different law enforcement issue. Last Wednesday, my Labour Party colleague, Deputy Broughan, asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform for the numbers of warrants which have been issued by the courts for the arrest of persons throughout the country. The reply he received is amazing. According to the reply Deputy Broughan received there are 111,453 warrants outstanding. That number is equivalent to the population of a large five seat constituency. That is the number of warrants for arrest that have been issued by the courts that have not yet been executed. I want in particular to focus on two of those categories. The first is bench warrants, which are normally issued for people who do not turn up in court, in many cases defendants and those on bail. Some 36,000 warrants issued by the courts for the arrest of people who have not shown up in courts have not yet been executed.

The House will recall that Donna Cleary was the unfortunate woman who was shot through the window of her own home. She was killed by a man for whom a bench warrant had been issued but who had not been arrested. In my constituency, when two gardaí were killed by a speeding car, one of the young men in the car that ran into the gardaí had a bench warrant issued against him but he had not been arrested. Some 36,000 bench warrants have been issued for the arrest of people who do not show up in courts but these people have not been arrested.

Even more seriously perhaps, almost 4,000 committal warrants have been issued by the courts but the people involved have not been arrested. Committal warrants are issued where somebody has been convicted by a court of an offence and a judge has decided that person should be in prison. In other words, almost 4,000 people are out there, convicted of offences by the courts, with judges having decided they should be in prison, but they have not yet been arrested.

Does the Taoiseach agree this demonstrates a serious problem in the criminal justice system? Is there some explanation for this number of warrants, which appears to be increasing? The Comptroller and Auditor General in his report last year commented on the fact that the number of warrants not being executed is increasing by approximately 25% per year. It is a problem that appears to be on the increase. I would like an explanation as to why these people are not being arrested. Will the Taoiseach tell the House what will be done to improve the situation?

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