Charities across the country received more than €1 million from the Court Poor Box last year, according to the Courts Service.

Payments ranged from small, one-off amounts to sums of over €50,000.

The fund is a means of helping largely first-time offenders to avoid a conviction for more minor, non-violent crimes.

The practice of courts directing that money be paid into a ‘poor box’ predates the foundation of the State.

Judges’ discretion

It stems from judges’ jurisdiction at common law to exercise discretion in imposing a penalty or imposing other conditions, such as donations to the Poor Box, or to a particular charity.

Organisations wishing to become beneficiaries of the Poor Box can apply in writing to their local District Court office.

Charities that received payments last year include:

• Coolmine Theraputic Community (€52,120),
• Cork Simon (€47,150),
• The Irish Red Cross (€29,350),
• Merchants Quay Project (€35,140),
• Oasis Women’s Project (€25,000),
• Pieta House (€45,655), and
• St Vincent de Paul (€27,070).

A spokesman for the Courts Service described the Poor Box as being “predominantly used by the District Courts who deal with criminal offences of a less serious nature”, adding that the individual amounts could vary substantially depending on ability to pay, other penalties imposed, and the nature of the offences.

Public-order offences

The courts body says that public-order offences are the most common offences for which the poor-box option is given to defendants.

“When combined with the Probation of Offenders Act, it provides an option where the person is held accountable in public court, some financial penalty is considered merited, but a conviction and fine are not,” the spokesman continued, pointing out that the Poor Box could sometimes be a more meaningful punishment than the maximum fine, where the value can be eroded by inflation.

The Courts Service adds that charities regularly benefit from even more payments from court cases, as judges regularly direct defendants to pay monies directly to a charity, rather than into the Poor Box.