Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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588. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of drivers listed in court for driving while holding a mobile phone by District Court area in each of the years 2018 to 2021 and to date in 2022, which resulted in the case being struck out or dismissed due to the driver making a contribution to the court poor box; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6590/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I have contacted the Courts Service for the information requested by the Deputy and have been advised of the below information. It should be noted that, where a Court Area is absent from a report, this should be read as a zero value for that Court Area. As the Deputy will appreciate, it is solely a matter for the presiding judge to determine if a case is struck out or dismissed and if such a strike out or dismissal is on foot of a contribution to the court poor box.

I have been advised that reasons for dismissals/strike outs may not be recorded by the judge in each case on the Courts Service system and that recording of same is a matter of judicial discretion. Further, a person may have had an offence struck out or dismissed in more than one court area so would be displayed more than once in this report.

For comparison purposes, the Courts Service have provided the following information on the total number of persons listed to appear in each Court Area for the offence of driving whilst holding a mobile phone. Again, a person may be listed in Court for that year in one or more Court Areas so would be displayed more than once in this report.

I am advised that figures for 2022 are not presently available; however, for the Deputy's information, the Courts Service has a dedicated email address for the provision of information to members of the Houses of the Oireachtas at: oireachtasenquiries@courts.ie.