“THIS is not a la carte law – people here are taking a far too casual approach when it comes to addressing court matters”.
That’s the view of Judge Eugene O’Kelly who said that people charged or had matters before Limerick District Court were taking “far too many bench warrants” and he warned that “people who take bench warrants can expect not to get bail when the warrant is executed.”
The newly appointed district court judge issued his warning as several people with what he described as “serious matters before the court” did not turn up for their cases with no reason to indicate why. “This is not a la carte law”, he said.
Court statistics show there were over 124,000 warrants outstanding and the State was liable for the cost of executing them.
At Limerick District Court this week, some three dozen historic warrants were reissued by the courts in an effort to “keep them live” according to Inspector John Deasy and gardai were given six months to execute them against persons sought for arrest.
A six month review by senior gardai is about to be delivered to Justice Minister Alan Shatter who has already indicated that the majority of the outstanding warrants related to minor offences.
Gardai in Limerick are now applying to the district courts to have historic warrants reissued following an overhaul review of the outstanding warrants. Cases dating back to 2007 have appeared in the October report for Henry Street Garda Station and gardai have applied for duplicates to be issued to the home stations.
Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan is to report to the Oireactas Committe in January to report on progress made in tackling the backlog in executing warrants.
FACTFILE
District Court bench warrants
Limerick city can have up to 1,000 outstanding warrants at any one time
124,000 warrants outstanding in Ireland during the first half of 2012
50 per cent of warrants outstanding in Limerick are for non nationals
It can cost the State €1,000 to execute a warrant
Ireland issued 71 European arrest warrants last year
40 of them are still outstanding
6 of the European warrants were from Mid West Region
Over 40 warrants are still outstanding
Ireland received 384 European arrest warrants last year
177 persons were surrendered to other EU countries
