Over 700 arrest warrants wait to be executed

More than 700 Garda arrest warrants in Galway are waiting to be executed, it has been confirmed.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said some 718 bench warrants in Galway had not been executed. Nationally, there were 29,000 bench warrants waiting to be executed, she said.

Minister Fitzgerald said that the number of bench warrants outstanding had been reduced significantly since 2010. The latest figures relate to the head count of unexecuted bench warrants as of November 25, 2015. She said it was “inevitable” that there would be a significant amount of bench warrants waiting to be executed at any given time.

Minister Fitzgerald said: “Difficulties in relation to the execution of warrants are a long standing issue for many police forces around the world, notably relating to persons actively seeking to evade detection and the limited identification information which might be available to support enforcement. These difficulties are compounded where the warrant has been outstanding for some years, as is often the case.”

She said Gardaí gave priority to the execution of bench warrants for serious crimes.

Some €205 million will be invested between now and 2021 on modernising the Garda system of technology for recording and monitoring information on warrants.

A warrants review group has been established also to work on ways of better managing and enforcing warrants, she said.

The Minister added: “A number of improvements have been put in place, including greater use of clerical support staff which helps to free up Gardaí to concentrate on the execution as opposed to the administration of warrants. I am further advised that warrants enforcement is a recurring agenda item at Garda senior management meetings to ensure that the situation is continually monitored.”