Poor box responsible for quarter of 2018 payments scrapped
Reading time: 1 minute
The court poor box in Kerry, which accounted for a quarter of all poor box payments in Ireland last year, has finally been scrapped.
Offenders in Kerry are now being asked to make donations directly to charities instead of going through the poor box, the Irish Examiner reports.
Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan is committed to phasing out the poor box system and replacing it with a “fair, equitable and transparent” system of reparation.
Around €460,000 was paid into the poor box in Kerry last year, representing over a quarter of the €1.74 million paid out across the country, according to Courts Service figures.
However, the practice has finally come to an end following the retirement of Judge James O’Connor in August 2018.
Under his successor, Judge David Waters, offenders in drug cases have made donations directly to treatment centres run by Cuan Mhuire and offenders in minor public order offences have made donations directly to the Garda Benevolent Trust Fund.
Share this article:
Subscribe to our newsletter to not miss articles like this one:
SUBSCRIBE
