Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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308. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if the Courts Service publish annual reports that show which charities benefited from court poor box donations. [60830/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will appreciate, the Judiciary are subject only to the Constitution and the law, and independent in the exercise of their judicial functions. To be of assistance, I have made enquires of the Courts Service.

The Courts Service publish Annual Reports on the Court Poor Box on the Courts Service website: www.courts.ie/publications/poor-box-2017-2023

The Courts Service have advised that the 2024 report will be published on the website in the coming days.

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.

Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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309. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he plans to fast track reform of the court poor box system. [60831/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The Criminal Justice (Community Sanctions) Bill 2014 seeks to update the Probation of Offenders Act 1907.

It will facilitate the effective and efficient use of community sanctions by the courts, and will ensure that the courts have a wide range of appropriate options for dealing with people who have committed minor offences.

The Bill also takes account of the interests of victims of crime by making it a statutory requirement for the courts to have regard to the interests of victims when making decisions about community sanctions.

Part 5 of the General Scheme of the Bill, as published, provides for the abolition of the Court Poor Box and the establishment of the Reparation Fund and reparation orders as a form of non-custodial sentence. This is to provide for a fair, equitable and transparent system of reparation, applicable only to minor offences and for the usage of that fund to provide services for the victims of crime.

As the Deputy is aware, the court poor box is a non-statutory system used to impose a financial charge on a defendant to be used for a charitable purpose, usually instead of imposing a criminal conviction. It is mainly used in the District Court where the judge may order the defendant to pay a donation into the court poor box in lieu of another penalty. It usually arises where the offence is minor in nature and would not attract a custodial sentence.

Monies are paid out at the discretion of the judge. In the main, such monies are paid out to local charities, including local branches of national charities, local schools, and youth organisations.

A policy review of the Scheme of the Criminal Justice (Community Sanctions) Bill 2014 has been conducted which recommends changes that reflect developments in Irish penal policy since 2014.

I can advise the Deputy that my Department is currently considering the policy review and next steps.