Poor box yields €2m for Irish charities
Howard Lake | 12 August 2015 | News
Charities in Ireland received over €2 million in 2014 from offenders who were ordered by judges to pay into the court ‘poor box,’ according to research by the Irish Times.
Poor box orders are used most often when, while the prosecution has proven its case, the judge deems it not appropriate to enter a conviction.
The largest beneficiary of the poor box was the Society of St Vincent de Paul, with 92 branches receiving almost €130,000. Sightsavers and the Christian Blind Mission received the next highest payments, each receiving €120,000 from Tralee District Court.
The court district of Kerry accounted for the most poor box payments, at 40% of the total number: 70 people were directed to make payments totalling €880,000 to charity.
A similar amount was donated in 2013.
End of the poor box?
There is currently no specific law governing court poor boxes but its days may be numbered. Concerns have been raised over the need to ensure equal treatment for offenders from different economic backgrounds, while others have pointed out that the scheme deprives the government of fines that could otherwise be imposed.
Last year the Irish Government approved measures to get rid of the court poor box system and replace it with a statutory reparations fund. Offenders would pay into this to help provide support to victims of crime.
Photo: poor box by stevendepolo on Flickr.com
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.