New sexual offences unit delayed at DPP as agency faces mounting case numbers

New figures from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) illustrate the increasing pressure on the State agency.

The office received 12,458 files in 2020 on which it was required to make a decision as to whether to a prosecution should be brought, up from 9,830 the previous year.

The files received in 2020 involved 16,158 suspects, up from 12,350 in 2019, according to the 2020 annual report from the office.

In her forward to the report, the director, Claire Loftus, said the second phase of setting up a new sexual offences unit within the office was being delayed because of the pressures the office is under.

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“It had been hoped that the second phase of the unit could be embarked upon around now,” she said.

“However, this is on hold given the pressures across all categories of criminal offence.”

Recruitment of new staff is essential first, she said, and the delay comes against a background of the need for a dedicated unit to deal with sexual offences being greater than ever.

“In 2019 there was a 12 per cent increase in the number of such files. In 2020 there was a further 8 per cent increase.”

Ms Loftus, who comes to the end of her 10-year term at the end of this week, said new pressures on the office had been created by the Covid-19 pandemic as advice was needed on how to deal with Covid regulatory offences.

The increased workload overall has seen the sanctioning of 35 new positions in the office, bringing the total workforce to 260.

Ms Loftus said that during the last decade the full impact of digitalisation and of social media became apparent.

“Cybercrime, both cyber-dependent and cyber-enabled, is now a major phenomenon. Crime has become global.

“Cases in every offence category have got bigger and more complex and present major challenges due to the volume of material collected in investigations. In every case we have to be mindful of our disclosure and Data Protection obligations.”

The second half of her tenure had been marked by an increase in gangland crime, which led to her office working closely with An Garda Síochána in dealing with the many challenges such cases can involve.

Of the decisions made during 2020, a decision not to prosecute was made in 34 per cent of files, to prosecute on indictment in 30 per cent of files, and to prosecute in the District Court in relation to 32 per cent of files.

The main reason for directing not to prosecute was insufficient evidence (79 per cent).

In eight per cent of cases, the injured party withdrew the complaint, and in two per cent of cases the decision was made on public interest grounds.

The report does not contain figures on how many cases that went to trial on indictment in 2020 led to convictions as the great majority of these cases, according to the report, have yet to be dealt with due to the effect of the Covid-19 restrictions on jury trials.

“The outcomes for the few cases where results are available may not be representative of the final picture covering all the cases.”

A breakdown of prosecutions directed by the county where the alleged offence occurred, shows that there were 1.72 such directions for Longford, per 1,000 of population.

The next highest figure was for Dublin, at 1.40, followed by Waterford, at 1.28, Westmeath at 1.21, Limerick at 1.20, and Wexford at 1.15.

The lowest score was for Co Leitrim, at 0.51. Donegal and Wicklow were both at 0.53.

Of the 50 applications from the DPP heard in 2020 by the Court of Appeal (Criminal) for a review of a sentence on the basis of undue leniency, 34 were successful, 13 were not, and three were withdrawn or struck out.