Can i look up court records

Dayo93

We have been told a family member has been put of the road for drink driving, but they have denied this , we have reason to believe that they are lying. We have information around the time and location etc.
Is there anyway of looking up court records to check if they appeared in court ?, Thanks .

L1011

Possibly quicker to check the local papers if they're online.

mallynthemiddle

If they have been convicted i would imagine this would be on your local paper days after the court. Did you check this? Possibly might get your local paper online? As to answer your original question, i very much doubt it but i stand to be corrected. Hope this helps

Dayo93

mallynthemiddle wrote: »

If they have been convicted i would imagine this would be on your local paper days after the court. Did you check this? Possibly might get your local paper online? As to answer your original question, i very much doubt it but i stand to be corrected. Hope this helps

Thought of that option , can;t find anything , have been told that the barrister they paid is good at keeping things out of the papers (not even sure if that is possible)

hairyprincess

Dayo93 wrote: »

We have been told a family member has been put of the road for drink driving, but they have denied this , we have reason to believe that they are lying. We have information around the time and location etc.
Is there anyway of looking up court records to check if they appeared in court ?, Thanks .

Why do you want to know? Are they continuing to drive?

Dayo93

hairyprincess wrote: »

Why do you want to know? Are they continuing to drive?

Yep

pablo128

Would it be worth asking the local Gardai?

Dayo93

pablo128 wrote: »

Would it be worth asking the local Gardai?

That could be an option.

hairyprincess

Dayo93 wrote: »

Yep

So report them to the guards then.

Pro Hoc Vice

Dayo93 wrote: »

We have been told a family member has been put of the road for drink driving, but they have denied this , we have reason to believe that they are lying. We have information around the time and location etc.
Is there anyway of looking up court records to check if they appeared in court ?, Thanks .

The person may very well have been convicted in the District Court, but on appeal won their case. The recent High Court case on Irish receipt from the machine has resulted in a large number of such cases leading to acquittal.

It wasnt me123

Dayo93 wrote: »

Thought of that option , can;t find anything , have been told that the barrister they paid is good at keeping things out of the papers (not even sure if that is possible)

It would surprise me to see a Barrister in the District Court for a drink driving charge? Normally just a solicitor representing the accused and no, a Barrister couldn't stop the local paper attending the district Court (its open to whoever wants to go in) and couldn't stop them printing the cases in the district court.

If you think your relative has lost his licence and is continuing to drive report him to the Guards and his insurance company

Pro Hoc Vice

It wasnt me123 wrote: »

It would surprise me to see a Barrister in the District Court for a drink driving charge? Normally just a solicitor representing the accused and no, a Barrister couldn't stop the local paper attending the district Court (its open to whoever wants to go in) and couldn't stop them printing the cases in the district court.

If you think your relative has lost his licence and is continuing to drive report him to the Guards and his insurance company

Barristers often practice in DC in such matters. Also in Dublin it is often Barristers in the DC.

It wasnt me123

Pro Hoc Vice wrote: »

Barristers often practice in DC in such matters. Also in Dublin it is often Barristers in the DC.

different outside Dublin so.

You can go to Courts.ie / legal diary and check with the relevant district court Court List - not sure if you can look at lists from cases already heard or just future lists.

Fred Swanson

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Fred Swanson

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It wasnt me123

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I never said they don't and they can't be brought in, I said it would surprise me to see a Barrister in DC for a drink driving charge and I would be very surprised if a paper felt under pressure from some Barrister/Solicitor not to report a case. DC is open court for anyone who wants to attend - there would be no point in repressing details - half the town and their legal teams would be attending and would happily report on the details of others.

Don't be argumentative just for the sake of it, you're not in Court now!!

Pro Hoc Vice

It wasnt me123 wrote: »

I never said they don't and they can't be brought in, I said it would surprise me to see a Barrister in DC for a drink driving charge and I would be very surprised if a paper felt under pressure from some Barrister/Solicitor not to report a case. DC is open court for anyone who wants to attend - there would be no point in repressing details - half the town and their legal teams would be attending and would happily report on the details of others.

Don't be argumentative just for the sake of it, you're not in Court now!!

While I agree about the point re reporting cases. The fact is that in Drink Driving in my personal experience many cases in the DC are fought by Barristers. That can vary from District to District.

The_Minister

It wasnt me123 wrote: »

It would surprise me to see a Barrister in the District Court for a drink driving charge? Normally just a solicitor representing the accused and no, a Barrister couldn't stop the local paper attending the district Court (its open to whoever wants to go in) and couldn't stop them printing the cases in the district court.

If you think your relative has lost his licence and is continuing to drive report him to the Guards and his insurance company

There are certain barristers who only do drink driving cases - your chances of conviction diminish greatly with them on your side, so a lot of people are willing to toss them a few hundred to appear and not have the conviction.

Fred Swanson

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VisibleGorilla

Unless you have a personal involvement in the case, no you cannot.

Dayo93

Thanks for the replies

4ensic15

A friend of mine was charged with drink driving in a country area about 10 years ago. Because his intoxlyser reading was over the limit he was charged and bailed out of the district Court. the guards introduced him to a local solicitor who advised him to plead guilty as the reading was very high. He rang a Dublin based barrister who turned up for the hearing. My friend was acquitted
over an issue with the printout from the machine. The judge said "no criticism of the guards" and there was not a word about the case in the local papers afterwards. There were numerous reports from that same court that day about no insurance/nct cases etc.
The guards and the courts do not like reports of acquittals, it seems.

Victor

4ensic15 wrote: »

The guards and the courts do not like reports of acquittals, it seems.

More reasonably, journalists aren't pushed about reposting acquittals in minor cases.

However, I did see recently a report stating someone "pleaded not (NOT) guilty".

wokingvoter

4ensic15 wrote: »

A friend of mine was charged with drink driving in a country area about 10 years ago. Because his intoxlyser reading was over the limit he was charged and bailed out of the district Court. the guards introduced him to a local solicitor who advised him to plead guilty as the reading was very high. He rang a Dublin based barrister who turned up for the hearing. My friend was acquitted
over an issue with the printout from the machine. The judge said "no criticism of the guards" and there was not a word about the case in the local papers afterwards. There were numerous reports from that same court that day about no insurance/nct cases etc.
The guards and the courts do not like reports of acquittals, it seems.

Reports of acquittals don't make as good a story as the judge throwing the book at the defendant
There's not a thing any Garda barrister or anybody else can do about press coverage
It all depends on how many cases are before the Court that day
The reporter will write about the juiciest ones

TheHillOfDoom

It's not unheard of for a judge to postpone the date for the suspension of a licence, if it's a first offence and if the person's livelihood is at stake by losing the licence. It is also quite common for editors of local newspapers to be asked not to print stories. And yes, unless a case is particularly interesting, journalists won't bother reporting on acquitals.

Duffryman

I have several years of experience as a court reporter and assistant editor in a provincial newspaper and can honestly say we never omitted a report as a result of being asked to by a barrister, solicitor, Garda, or anybody else. On the contrary, it's the complete opposite - if a barrister (for example) asked that a case be left out, we would be extra sure to include that case, precisely to show that they don't and can't expect to have that sort of influence over the press.

However, it's not unheard of for cases to go unreported for other reasons. For example, the vast majority of District Court cases in Dublin don't get reported at all, due to lack of the same sort of 'local' papers that you find 'down the country'.

Also, if the defendant is not from the paper's circulation area, then it might not be reported either. For example, if somebody from Meath or Mayo is in Waterford District Court on a charge of being just over the limit, then it may well be omitted since it's of no real relevance to the readership of the paper - nobody in that area knows who she or he is. All depends on the number of cases dealt with on the day, and the amount of space available in the paper.

But to answer the OP, no, there's no easy facility to access actual court records in the court office. Your best bet might be if you're on friendly terms with a Garda, and ask him/her to check the PULSE system - although there are well-documented problems with that system too.

Fred Swanson

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Duffryman

That's true too. Also, sometimes a special sitting can be called, and neither court office nor Gardai informs the local press of it. Not necessarily to keep matters out of the papers - it's just that neither of them really sees it as their job to do so.