Almost €2,000 collected by Wexford District Court from defendants who skipped bail
Nationally, 562 people who were before the district courts last year decided to skip bail and, as a result, the courts collected almost €170,000 in forfeited bail money.
These figures were released by Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú who has backed Micheál Martin's commitment to further reform bail laws in Ireland and said she supports an overhaul of Ireland's bail system.
Dublin topped the poll of bail skippers. The Dublin district courts held onto over €80,000 as 334 people skipped bail and didn't show up for the court dates in 2024. Cork city by comparisons only had 7 people skip bail in the district court in 2024.
71 people failed to turn up for district court appearances in Wicklow in 2024 and the Bray district court office collected €18,690 in forfeited bail money.
Ní Mhurchú said that a cohort of defendants in court, most of them in Dublin, clearly feel like they are above the law.
'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 Minister Jim 'O'Callaghan will bring the necessary reforms in this area'
The figures follow revelations in March of this year that criminals on bail were suspected of having carried out 40,348 crimes in 2024 across Ireland. Ní Mhurchú said it is time for a get tough approach on those who are flaunting Irelands bail laws.
Ní Mhurchú pointed out that year on year over the past three years, the number of people skipping bail is falling and she welcomed that. For example, 717 people skipped bail in our district court system in 2022.
Any forfeited bail money goes back to the Irish exchequer.
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