Over 100 drink driving offences struck out this year for non-service of summons

Over 100 drink driving offences have already been struck out in the Irish courts this year due to non-service of a summons.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald revealed that 96 cases were struck out in January 2017.

A total of 958 cases were struck out in 2015 and an even higher number of 972 in 2016.

Ms Fitzgerald said: “It should be noted that a working group was established by An Garda Síochána to examine how the rate of summons serving can be improved and to regularly monitor the level of summons service throughout the country.

“While this group has reported improvements in the rate of successful service of summons, challenges remain in relation to effecting service of summons in certain circumstances, relating to such matters as inaccurate address data, persons moving address, or living in multi-occupancy dwellings or other settings which make service difficult.”