Poor box used 1,300 times in three years

The court poor box has been used more than 1,300 times in the last three years in spite of the Government saying in 2014 that it was to be scrapped and replaced with a fund to help victims of crime.

Figures released by Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan show that, while orders to make payments to the box have slowed significantly in many parts of the country, several courts are continuing to use it widely.

In 2015, the poor box was used 843 times, in 2016 the total was 258 and up to the of September of this year it had been availed of 223 times.