Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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197. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his proposed reform of the court poor box; the amount collected over the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7409/14]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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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 provides details of court poor box receipts for the period concerned.

Last week, the Government approved the drafting of the Criminal Justice (Community Sanctions) Bill and the publication of the General Scheme of the Bill. The proposed legislation will replace the Probation of Offenders Act 1907 with modern provisions dealing with community sanctions and the role of the Probation Service in the criminal justice system. The legislation will abolish the Court Poor Box and replace it with a statutory Reparation Fund to provide for a fair, equitable and transparent system of reparation that will apply only to minor offences dealt with by the District Court. The replacement of the Court Poor Box with a statutory Reparation Fund was recommended by the Law Reform Commission in its 2005 report The Court Poor Box: Probation of Offenders.

The new Reparation Fund will be used to provide additional funding for services for the victims of crime and compensation payments payable by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal. The legislation will clearly provide that the Reparation Fund may not be used for any purpose other than the provision of compensation, reparation and assistance for the victims of crime. It is intended that monies to be paid into the Reparation Fund will be collected by the Courts Service, transmitted to the Department of Justice and Equality and allocated between organisations supporting victims of crime and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal.