District Court summonses plummet
While the Garda Representative Association reject any kind of ‘blue ink flu’, unnamed Garda sources are attributing the fall to an “easy on the pedal” approach to offenders.
Summonses for District Court cases, a huge source of revenue, have dropped from 101,002 last year to 78,578 for the first three months of this year.
If the current trend continues for the rest of 2013, it will cost the Exchequer more than €2m in revenue.
However, a Department of Justice source said last night said there would be huge savings in not bringing many people to court.
The source said: “For instance, people serving sentences and who have outstanding cases against them are now not being summonsed for District Court matters, as in most instances if there is a sentence it would be concurrent with the sentence they are serving and makes no material difference. It also saves huge expense in bringing people in custody under escort to the courts.”
Warnings are now issued to many public order offenders, instead of a straight summons. In Limerick District Court, summonses have fallen for the first quarter of 2012 from 8,125 to 6,172 for the first quarter.
Most District Court summonses yield a fine revenue for the state. Some offences dealt carry a fine of €5,000.
However gardaí on the beat say one factor in the fall-off is the issuing of fewer summonses in what they call a ‘blue ink flu’ protest.
GRA president John Parker said it would be making no comment as these were operational matters. While the GRA dismissed the fall to a “blue ink flu”, some gardaí who spoke to the Irish Examiner attributed the huge fall to lack of resources and low morale.
One GRA member, who asked not to be named: “The gardaí are not just issuing summonses like they did heretofore. They feel it’s not their job to deal with a bigger workload with smaller numbers and resources.”
The GRA’s annual conference begins in Westport, Co Mayo, this evening.
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