DPP dealt with 16,000 files in 2011

More than 16,000 prosecution files were received by the Director of Public Prosecution's office last year, according to a report released this morning.

The DPP's annual report for 2011 showed there had been an increase of almost 200 in the number of files received from an Garda Síochána and other investigating agencies compared to the previous year.

More than 12,500 files were disposed of last year, with no prosecution taken in 37 per cent of cases. In almost 30 per cent, a prosecution was directed before the Circuit, Criminal or Special Criminal Courts, and in 33 per cent, summary disposal at District Court level was directed.

In three quarters of the unprosecuted cases, the reason for not proceeding was insufficient evidence. In 6 per cent of cases the injured party had withdrawn the complaint and in 4 per cent the decision was taken not to prosecute on public interest grounds.

The office received 12 requests last year for reasons why it did not prosecute cases involving a death. Since 2008, the DPP has been giving families the reasons behind such non-prosecutions. The report said since the introduction of the policy, 33 requests had been received and almost 80 per cent of these related to fatal road traffic cases.