Kerry’s court stats highlighted on RTÉ

THE ‘RTE Investigates’ current affairs programme has broadcast a number of allegations concerning the District Courts in Kerry as part of an investigation into the Irish court system which aired on Monday night.

The programme – which covered issues relating to District Courts across the country – made a number of specific references to Kerry. These included mention of variations in the sentences imposed by different courts for similar offences.

According to the RTE programme, 15 per cent of people convicted of dangerous driving in Cork last year were jailed. However, in Kerry none of the 115 people convicted of the same offence were jailed.

Meanwhile Courts Service figures provided to ‘RTÉ Investigates’ showed that in 2016 the average case required 2.5 court appearances.

One case in Kilrush was adjourned 41 times before reaching a conclusion on the 42nd appearance while another case in Killarney was adjourned 39 times.

The ‘RTE Investigates’ broadcast also dealt with courts’ use of the Poor Box system, which allows a person to avoid a conviction provided they make a payment to the poor box. The money is then donated to a charity or charities nominated by the court.

According to the programme Courts Service figures showed that the court poor box of Mayo paid out €9,930 to charities in 2016 while Kerry’s poor box paid out €394,000. RTE said the Kerry figure represented more than a quarter of the national poor box total.