Cynthia Ní Mhurchú

New figures obtained by Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, the Fianna Fáil MEP for Ireland South, under freedom of information legislation reveal that bail skippers are disproportionately found in Dublin.

The Dublin district courts held onto over €80,000 as 334 people skipped bail and failed to show up for court dates in 2024. By comparison, only seven people failed to show up in Cork.

In Wicklow, 71 people failed to turn up for district court appearances and the Bray district court office collected €18,690 in forfeited bail money.

There were 10 bail skippers in the Cavan district courts in 2024, meaning the court kept over €8,000 euro in bail money.

Other district court offices with a relatively high number of people skipping bail in 2024 were Dundalk (32), Trim (26) and Monaghan (13).

Ms Ní Mhurchú said: “This seems to be an acute issue in the Dublin district courts.

“Fianna Fáil is committed to building a victim-centred criminal justice system and strengthening our bail laws to ensure that courts will refuse bail if an accused is likely to commit another serious offence on bail.

“I am confident that [justice] minister Jim O’Callaghan will bring the necessary reforms in this area.”

The numbers of people skipping bail appears to be falling, with 717 having skipped bail in the District Court in 2022.

Any forfeited bail money goes back to the Irish exchequer.