Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 526: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons in prison here as of 1 July 2011. [22351/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I have been informed by the Irish Prison Service that the number of persons in custody on 1 July 2011 was 4,402.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 527: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons in prison here as of 1 July 2011 on a conviction recorded in a summary trial - that is, a no-jury, judge-only trial. [22352/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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It may be helpful to explain that the only court that would record a conviction in a summary trial is the District Court, where there is no jury. The Special Criminal Court operates without a jury but its jurisdiction is not restricted to summary offences.

Unfortunately, it is not feasible to identify the exact number of persons in prison on a specific date on a conviction recorded in a summary trial. However, from the information available, I can say that on 30 June 2011, there were 568 sentenced persons in prison with a sentence of 12 month or less and 3,167 sentenced persons with a sentence of more than 12 months. The majority of those persons who received a sentence of less than 12 months will have been convicted in the District Court (although a proportion of those receiving a sentence of less than 12 months will have been convicted in a jury trial in the Circuit Court). It is unlikely that anyone serving a sentence of more than 12 months will have been convicted in a summary trial.

I can further inform the Deputy that the number of defendants who received a sentence of imprisonment/detention in the District Court in 2010 is 12,979. The number of offences was 20,435 and this figure includes summary offences and indictable offences dealt with summarily.