Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

178. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 447 of 30 April 2013, if he will provide, for each month of this year to date in 2013, the number of motorists appearing in court charged with offences under the Road Traffic Acts incurring penalty points who avoided convictions because they agreed to make a donation to the court poor box. [44986/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The court poor box is a non-statutory system used mostly by the District Courts to impose a financial charge on a defendant to be used for a charitable purpose, usually instead of imposing a criminal conviction. Payments made to the court poor box are accounted for by the court office concerned and the accounting procedures are subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Generally, charities are the recipients of poor box contributions but the decision is solely at the discretion of the Judge who is independent in the matter of sentencing, as in other matters concerning the exercise of judicial functions, subject only to the Constitution and the law.

In order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the table below shows the number of defendants recorded on the Courts Service Criminal Case Tracking System (CCTS) who were before the court for offences under the Road Traffic Act incurring penalty points for each month of this year up to the end of August 2013 and the outcome of whose cases involved payments to the Court Poor Box. None of these people were convicted of the offences.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

179. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 447 of 30 April 2013, if the proposed reform cited by him in his reply in relation to the replacement of the poor box in courts with a statutory reparation fund has yet been initiated. [44987/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Work is at an advanced stage in my Department on the General Scheme of a Bill to replace the Probation of Offenders Act 1907 with modern provisions dealing with community sanctions, such as probation orders, and the role of the Probation Service in the criminal justice system. The Court Poor Box is also being examined in this context with a view to bringing forward proposals for a transparent statutory reparation scheme. I intend to bring proposals to Government on the matter as soon as possible, having regard to other legislative priorities.