Charities in Drogheda to benefit from court poor box

CHARITIES in Drogheda are set to benefit from the proceeds of Drogheda District Court poor box after Judge John Coughlan announced funds collected in the court through donations are to go to local charities.

“Anything collected in Drogheda Court is to go back to Drogheda,” Judge Coughlan said.

“We’ve started it in Ardee Court and it is working very successfully there. Quintessentially any money coming in is to go back out to the local deserving charities who do a lot of good work,” he said.

Echoing his sentiment, Inspector Ray Brady said: “There are lots of local charities doing a lot of hard work.”

The practice of courts directing that money be paid into a court poor pox in lieu of or in conjunction with another penalty is a practice, which predates the foundation of the State.

It is predominately used by the District Courts who deal with criminal offences of a less serious nature than other jurisdictions.

The individual amounts can vary substantially depending on ability to pay, other penalties imposed and the nature of the offences.

The option of paying into the court poor box arises usually where the offence is minor in nature and would not attract a custodial sentence.

Public order offences are the most common offences for which the poor box is given to defendants and it is sometimes used for first time offences and minor drug offences.

The charitable donation is lodged by the defendant with the court and paid over by the Fines Office of the Court to the charity in question - which from now on will be local charities in the court’s district.