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“I would be slow in crimes where there is violence to the person because I think that a very
individual victim is picked out as against the wrong to society. Where violence is in question I would
be veryslowto give communityservice.”A4J4DC
“… or where the offence is drug related particularly which I would consider for a very minor
section 15, I would be terrified that that person would see his friends on a community service
scheme as beinga possible customer base.”A4J2DC
“I am only starting out but my view of it would be … one of the issues is danger to society and if
the individual is such … “A1J4DC
“I would tend to applythem in cases where e.g. they were repeat public order offenders. Maybe not
of the veryhighest level but maybe 2 or 3 or 4 times.” A1J3DC
“I wouldn’t give it for section 15 of the Misuse of Drugs Act. I wouldn’t give it for counterfeit
currency. I wouldn’t give it if where was any serious violence inflicted upon the person. They’d be 3
areas where I normally would not … because I knewthat these sort of offences merit incarceration
andit’s a matter of protection of society.”A1J1DC
“I would possibly consider a community service order particularly if his crime is against property
something of that nature … “A6J1DC
“I tendto look at the person in a lot of cases.”A7J1CC
In summary , the use by the Courts of community service as a sentencing tool is quite
consistent with the original views expressed in the White Paper (1981) and the anticipated
target groups of offenders and offences identified by the Minister for Justice who piloted
the Bill through the Oireachtas and those few speakers in both Houses who sought to
identifythe most likelycandidates for communityservice.
Clearly, serious offenders are not given community service in the Irish criminal justice
system, which offenders are categorised by the jurisdictional level of the court of trial.
The District Court may only try cases which although indictable are considered minor in
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