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Sharp increase in courts’ activity challenges DPP

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has highlighted the challenges her office faces in dealing with a “sharp increase” in court activity last year, as well as the ever-increasing volume of digital data in “almost all categories” of cases.

The Office of the DPP’s annual report shows that it supported 1,833 trial dates listed in the Central Criminal Court last year – an increase of 20% on the previous year.

Writing in the report, the DPP Catherine Pierse said that there had been a 66% increase in the number of trial dates listed in the Central Criminal Court over the past five years, due to extra judicial appointments.

Cases outside Dublin

Pierse also referred to a significant increase in the number of Central Criminal Court cases being heard in venues outside of Dublin – from 127 in 2019 to 517 at the end of last year.

“As a Dublin-based office, this has presented operational challenges and required significant additional effort and commitment by all involved – including the staff of my office as well as our prosecuting barristers,” the DPP stated.

She noted that these increases had not been confined to the Central Criminal Court, with siting dates in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court up 24% from 2019 to 2023, with a substantial increase outside Dublin also.

Balance

The DPP said that the growing volume of digital data from phones, apps, and CCTV had “utterly transformed” the volume and nature of material that her office had to assess.

“The evolution of digital data is such that it is becoming progressively more difficult to balance the legal obligation to identify and disclose relevant, or potentially relevant, information with the duty to protect privacy,” she stated.

The report shows that the Office of the DPP received 17,603 files last year – up slightly compared with 2022.

A prosecution was directed for almost two-thirds of suspects who were the subject of files received.

The office said that 77% of cases requiring a decision whether to prosecute in 2023 were dealt with within a four-week period – a figure that was in line with previous years.

In 2023, the office received 536 requests for reasons and 223 requests for reviews of decisions not to prosecute.

Of the 223 requests for review, the decision was overturned in ten instances.