An increase in legal cases progressed in 2022 has resulted in the amount of court ordered fines in the first 9 months of the year almost equalling the entire figure for 2021.
Over €837,000 in court ordered fines were imposed on individuals between the first of January and the 30th of September 2022.
A court ordered fine is the money a judge decides a person has to pay as punishment for an offence.
The money is paid to a charity registered with the local courts service with the recipient and amount decided by the Judge themselves.
The figure for the entirety of 2021 stands at just under €876,000, just €39,000 more than that recorded at the end of September this year.
Major backlogs in the national and local court system were the result of paused proceedings during the Covid Pandemic with many hearings and trials delayed months, even years.
Busy court listings over the last 12 months have seen that backlog whittled down, with courts offering leniency in many minor cases for guilty pleas that avoid a trial.
These pleas often can result in a suspended sentence and a court ordered fine.
