SOME CASES prosecuted in the District Court may have to be handed back to An Garda Síochána for prosecution in light of the cuts in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, James Hamilton has warned.
The DPP was referring to the impact of additional cuts in his office's budget on the functioning of the office. He said he would welcome any independent management consultant being sent in to examine where further economies could be made.
"We were asked to make a 3 per cent cut in payroll costs and we succeeded, largely by giving up our Abbey Street office," he said. "Having agreed on the Estimates and signed off on them, we got a communication to say we would have to pay the 3.5 per cent pay increase next year out of existing resources.
"Our administrative budget is quite small. There are three big items in our budget - staff costs, fees to counsel and legal costs that are ordered against us.
"We can do nothing about the legal costs. We have already cut back on fees to counsel after talking to the Bar Council.
"So the only other way is by cutting staff or not prosecuting certain cases, like some at District Court level.
"Already the number of files this year is running 6 per cent ahead of last year. There's about a 5 per cent increase every year. I have no control over the number of files I get."
Mr Hamilton pointed out that the office of the DPP was given more control over prosecutions taken by the Garda in the Garda Síochána Act three years ago.
"It would be regressive to hand back cases to them. If the gardaí are prosecuting, they are not out catching criminals."
He said there was time to consider how to deal with the problem, as the impact of the cuts would not show up until the end of next year.
"We will cut counsel fees by half a million euro. We will cut the pay bill by about €0.2 million, by not filling vacancies and so on. We have cut general administrative costs, heat, light, travel etc, from €4.2 million to €3.2 million. We can manage next year under the Estimates already agreed.
"But we will then be at rock bottom. With increments and the 3½ per cent pay increase we are looking at cuts of between 5 and 6 per cent."
Mr Hamilton stressed that the office had been well treated over the years in terms of requested resources.
"It is not the case that we won't be able to function at all. But we will be forced to hand back District Court prosecutions to the gardaí, which is not desirable."