Labour leader concerned by number of outstanding warrants

A total of 111,453 court warrants – or the population to of a five-seat Dáil constituency – remain outstanding, the Dáil heard today.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said the figures represented a serious problem within the criminal justice system.

He said the statistics include 36,000 outstanding bench warrants – those issued by judges for the arrest of people who have failed to turn up in courts.

Mr Gilmore reminded TDs that Dublin mother Donna Cleary was shot dead in 2004 through the window of her home by a man for whom a bench warrant was issued and who had not been arrested.

He added that two gardaí were also killed in his Dun Laoghaire constituency in 2002 by a young joyrider for whom a bench warrant had been issued.

He said the figures showed there were nearly 4,000 outstanding committal warrants – for people convicted of offences in their absence and who should be in prison but have not been arrested.

Mr Gilmore called for an explanation for the statistics and measures to improve the situation.

“This displays a very serious problem in our criminal justice system,” he told the Dáil.

He cited concerns by the Comptroller and Auditor General’s 2006 report that the number of warrants is increasing by 25% each year.

The Taoiseach queried whether the actual figures were as high as Mr Gilmore was quoting as individual difficulties often artificially inflated the statistics.

He said that in some cases defendants forget or fail to turn up in court due to illness or had multiple warrants issued against them.

“The number of people who deliberately evade the criminal justice system is a lot lower than the figures quoted by Mr Gilmore,” he told TDs.

Mr Ahern said the latest Criminal Justice Act gave stronger powers to gardai to deal with people evading the courts.