Some asylum seekers who arrive here pregnant as a result of rape have decided to parent and have not sought an abortion, said the director of the Kerry Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Centre in Tralee yesterday.

Victims of crime will benefit most from a government decision to scrap the poor box and instead have offenders pay into a centralised fund.

Money collected in court poor boxes should benefit local victims of crime, the director of the Kerry Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Centre has said, as it emerged that the service only got €200 from Kerry offenders last year.

Local charities in Kerry got less than €50,000 from the court poor box last year, while international charities benefited to the tune of €480,000 from offenders who came before the county’s courts.