Charity begins at home, Kerry council tells judge

KERRY councillors want more funds from the district court poor box to go to local charities rather than developing countries.

People who have committed minor offences are often ordered to make a donation into a court poor box instead of receiving a harsher sentence.

The money is then donated to charity by the court.

But Cllr Niall Kelleher of Fianna Fáil wants funds from the poor box to be evenly split between foreign countries in need and local community groups.

He has asked Judge James O’Connor to meet the chairman of Kerry County Council to open talks on his ideas.

Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, Cllr Kelleher said: ‘I put down a motion on Monday before our full council meeting about this issue.

‘We have a fund in community support. Kerry County Council gives money to local communities right across the county who are doing certain works for different reasons, it’s a fund we created three years ago.

‘We had a tiny surplus of Local Property Tax and we created this fund, which has been hugely successful across the county.

‘We have delivered around €2.5million in those years to different causes. While they are not charities, a lot of them are community groups which have a direct impact locally.

‘I asked Kerry County Council to write to the Courts Service regarding the allocation of the money from the poor box to see if some of it can be donated locally.

‘I feel it is a good opportunity to support our local projects and work.’

The latest figures released by the Courts Service last month show that more than €1.53million was collected in district court poor boxes across the country last year. Almost one-third of this figure came from the court office in Tralee.

The vast majority of the almost €400,000 collected in Kerry was distributed among large overseas charities by Judge O’Connor. Cllr Kelleher said: ‘Ninety percent of it goes to the developing world charities, like Sightsavers and the missions.

‘I have nothing against that but I would like to see some of the money collected in Kerry, albeit from offences in Kerry, given directly to benefit Kerry’.

Mr Kelleher said he was awaiting a response from the Courts Service to see if Judge O’Connor was interested in discussing the motion further.

‘I believe it is a very important idea and I would like to see it developed further, our projects and community funds are excellent and I would invite anyone to see the work being carried out.

Cllr Michael Cahill of Fianna Fáil seconded the proposal.

The Courts Service said the poor box was typically used for minor public order offences. It is also sometimes used for road traffic offences, first time offences, minor drug offences and offences against property or animals.

Laws introduced in June 2011 outlawed using the poor box in cases that would otherwise attract penalty points.

But some judges continue with the practice.

The district court in Tralee brought in €394,080 last year from the poor box – the most in the country by some distance.

The Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin brought in €165,983; Cork raised €106,815 and Dublin Metropolitan amassed €93,875.

Charities which received most money included the Capuchin Day Centre (€57,785); Christian Blind Mission (€53,000) and Sightsavers International (€53,000).