Bench Warrants

Wednesday, 30 April 2025

Questions (142)

Alan Kelly

Question:

142. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Justice the number of bench warrants currently outstanding in each Garda division as of 25 April 2025; the number older than 6 months, older than 12 months, and the longest outstanding issue date; the total number of outstanding bench warrants that predate 2020, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21626/25]

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Written answers

Minister for Justice

While the Garda Commissioner is, by law, responsible for the management and administration of Garda business, including the allocation of Garda resources in respect of identified operational demands, I am assured that An Garda Síochána execute warrants as expeditiously as possible, giving priority to the execution of warrants relating to serious crimes.

The execution of warrants, including bench warrants, can be impeded by persons actively seeking to evade detection and where limited identification information might be available to support enforcement. This data also reflects an accumulation of old bench warrants and therefore may not be a reliable indicator of the number of 'live' warrants which are actually enforceable.

I am informed by the Garda Authorities that a bench warrant does not expire and is only removed from the PULSE system when cancelled by the Court. Local management in An Garda Síochána monitor the number of warrants (including bench warrants) under their area of responsibility. Applications may be made by An Garda Síochána to the court to cancel bench warrants following consideration of a number of factors, including: an error on the warrant, the death of the defendant, previous failed attempts to execute the warrant, the age of the warrant or evidence that there is now an inability to prosecute the substantive charge.

The table below, provided to me by the Garda authorities, shows the number of bench warrants that were outstanding by region and division as of 27 April 2025.

Division	Outstanding	Older than 6 months	Older than 12 months	Pre-date 2000	Longest Outstanding Issue Date
D.M.R. Eastern	1241	1118	1035	600	16/03/1990
D.M.R. North Central	6259	5614	5242	4092	19/09/1971
D.M.R. Northern	6078	5415	5023	3161	14/12/1995
D.M.R. South Central	3117	2652	2409	1649	02/11/1995
D.M.R. Southern	4455	3888	3553	2355	20/04/1998
D.M.R. Western	9350	8276	7608	4661	29/01/1987
DMR Traffic Division	30	29	29	20	26/02/1999
Kildare Div	589	445	381	164	27/01/2000
Laois/Offaly	467	339	292	102	06/06/2008
Meath/Westmeath	1666	1332	1006	352	09/01/2001
Waterford/Kilkenny/Carlow	904	741	657	307	31/05/2000
Wexford/Wicklow	978	688	547	150	02/03/2004
Donegal	1426	1164	988	643	31/07/2001
Galway Div	1823	1255	1103	594	18/01/1999
Louth/Cavan/Monaghan	2500	2144	1898	935	01/06/1999
Mayo/Roscommon/Longford	975	792	649	228	15/09/1998
Sligo/Leitrim	619	556	444	219	22/07/1998
Clare/Tipperary	1408	1154	904	303	02/10/1991
Cork City	1812	1483	1207	381	26/10/1999
Cork County	829	673	564	162	05/07/2000
Kerry	518	433	367	196	23/01/1997
Limerick	2405	1944	1660	568	22/04/1997

Figures were collated based on PULSE data as of 27 April 2025. Please note that these figures are operational and may be liable to change.