Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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1054. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of bench warrants outstanding in each Garda division; the number of bench warrants outstanding for a period of over six months in each Garda division; the number of bench warrants outstanding for a period of over 12 months in each Garda division; and the longest outstanding warrant in each Garda division. [20785/20]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will appreciate, difficulties in relation to the execution of warrants, including bench warrants, are a long-standing issue for many police forces around the world; notably relating to persons actively seeking to evade detection and where limited identification information might be available to support enforcement.  These difficulties are compounded where the warrant has been outstanding for some years.  However, I am assured that An Garda Síochána execute warrants as expeditiously as possible, giving priority to the execution of warrants relating to serious crimes.

The Deputy will also appreciate that the figure for outstanding bench warrants recorded by PULSE at any given time reflects an accumulation of old bench warrants which has arisen over the years and that therefore the total figure for outstanding bench warrants as shown on PULSE may not be a reliable indicator of the number of 'live' warrants which are actually enforceable.

While it is important to note that an individual can be the subject of multiple bench warrants, I am advised by the Garda authorities that, as of 25 July 2020, there are 33,867  bench warrants outstanding nationally.  The attached table provides a breakdown of bench warrants outstanding by Garda Division. 

The table below shows the earliest issue date of the identified warrants as recorded on PULSE.

*Valid bench warrants issued at any time were examined. If the current status of a warrant was "issued" or "not tracked" it was considered to be outstanding.

*The results are based upon PULSE data as was available on the 25/07/2020 and is liable to change.

*The various figures showing the overdue timeframe was calculated with reference to the issue date of the warrant.