Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 January 2026
463. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of offences recorded by An Garda Síochána under sections (details supplied); the number of prosecutions brought in each case; the number of convictions in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3192/26]
View answerWhile An Garda Síochána can advise on the number of court proceedings initiated regarding a named offence or offence code associated with an act, I am informed that Gardaí are unable to provide data related to specific sections of Acts, as requested by the Deputy, as there is no structured field available in PULSE to search for that information.
However, the following table describes the total number of proceedings initiated* during 2025 citing the main offences contrary to the relevant sections of the three acts of interest.
|
- |
Offence |
Proceedings initiated |
|
|
Assault aggravated by hatred |
< 10 |
|
|
Damaging property aggravated by hatred |
< 10 |
|
|
Threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour in public place aggravated by hatred |
28 |
*Proceedings initiated do not equate to prosecutions.
Prosecutions are a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions, who is fully independent in her functions. As Minister, I have no role in the operations, functions, governance or oversight of the Office of the DPP and as a result I am unable to provide any information or statistics relating to the Director's work.
Regarding convictions, the management of the courts, operational matters and logistical functions, are solely matters for the Judiciary, who are completely independent in the exercise of their functions under the Courts Service Act 1998 and given the separation of powers in the Constitution. As Minister I have no role in the outcome of any court proceedings and do not keep statistics on court decisions.
I am advised however that the system in use by the Courts Service in the Circuit Courts cannot produce reports for specific offences. Reports are available by offence category rather than for individual offences and categories of offences can contain multiple offences. Consequently, the Courts Service is unable to provide statistics in the format requested by the Deputy.
The Court Service has a dedicated email address for queries from members of the Oireachtas: oireachtasenquiries@courts.ie.
