The Department of Justice and the Courts Service have rejected a Fine Gael claim that the District Court system is failing because two-thirds of all charges result in no penalty against the accused.
Sentencing policy in Ireland is well within European norms, according to a spokesman for the Courts Service. The decision on whether to imprison, fine or otherwise punish a person was entirely a matter for the judiciary, he emphasised.
Of over 360,000 cases before the court last year, 240,000 or two-thirds resulted in no penalty. Almost 11,000 people (3 per cent) were jailed, 110,000 (30 per cent) received a fine and 2,700 (less than 1 per cent) were ordered to do community service, according to the annual report of the Courts Service for 2002.
While Fine Gael has called for an inquiry into the figures, the Department last night advised caution in their interpretation.There were many reasons penalties were not imposed, a spokeswoman said. Apart from strike outs, these included use of the Probation Act, acquittals, being bound to keep the peace, adjournments and multiple charges where a person is convicted on one charge and the others are merely taken into consideration.
However, Senator Brian Hayes of Fine Gael said half the cases coming before the Dublin District Court were struck out last year with no hearing, so no possibility of conviction arose.
The Courts Service spokesman pointed out that not all categories of offences were listed in the report on which Fine Gael based its calculations. Traffic offences accounted for the vast majority of cases in which charges were struck out. Most of these related to parking infringements.
Also, the system of issuing summonses meant that many cases, such as failing to display a tax disc, ended up in court but did not result in a penalty. Strike-out rates for more serious offences such as larceny, sex and drugs offences were much lower, he said.
Mr Hayes said the Courts Service should provide more information on why charges were struck out or prison sentences not imposed.
"We shouldn't measure the success rate by the number of people put in prison," he said.
