Analysis: Many cases fall by wayside before proceeding to a hearing or are struck out
In October of last year, The Irish Times reported that between January 2013 and May 2015, more than 20,000 people were due to appear before District Courts nationwide to face drink-driving charges. Of those, 8,391, or 40 per cent, were convicted.
The figures were based on data, provided by the Department of Justice to TD Tommy Broughan, listing the numbers of summonses and the numbers of convictions for drink- driving by county.
The paper also carried an editorial criticising the low number of convictions. It suggested that “many judges have come to regard themselves as Catholic bishops once did – as independent powers within their court areas”. It called for the establishment of a judicial council to oversee judgments and standardise rulings.
The following week, the Courts Service said the correct conviction rate for drink driving was 86 per cent. It said the 40 per cent rate was wrong and “due to the extrapolation of conviction rates from the wrong set of figures”.
It looked at 11,237 cases over the same two-and-a-half-year period; only those cases that had been fully heard before a court.
It excluded all of the cases that were struck out by the judge because the prosecuting garda did not appear in court. It excluded cases in which summonses were issued and not served, cases that were not yet finalised, and others that never proceeded to full prosecution for numerous reasons.
Source: Fiona Gartland, The Irish Times, 06/01/16
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