Laois charities to get boost from Electric Picnic court cases

District Courts in Laois and Offaly will distribute tens of thousands of euro to local charities arising from drug posession and other incidents at the Electric Picnic. 

The donations will include funds from an estimated €65,000 paid out by hundreds of revellers in Stradbally who came before the courts. 

Court Poor Box payments are generally paid by someone who has been charged with a minor criminal offence, usually a first-time offender, who may be given one chance to avoid a criminal record by making a contribution to charity. 

The Court Poor Box is used most often in the District Court. Typical cases where the Court Poor Box is used include first-time possession of a small amount of drugs particularly cannabis, being drunk or disorderly in a public place, petty larceny, or minor assaults.

The payments to the Court Poor Box are generally less than €500 per case.

In 2022, Portlaoise District Court oversaw donations of €64,180. The Poor Box balance for distribution at the end of that year was €27,000. Of this,  €2,000 each went to Portlaoise Lions Club and Tullamore Lions Club. €1,000 each went to St Vincent de Paul in Portlaoise, Clara, Tullamore,  Castletown, Birr and Abbeyleix. 

Laois Hospice is one of the biggest beneficiaries getting more than €5,000 while Foróige is getting €3,500. Money is also going to the St Vincent De Paul conferences in Laois. Some individuals will also benefit.

Offaly Hospice,  The Acorn Project, Fusion Project and the Block Project all received €1,000 as did Laois Domestic Violence support and Offaly Domestic Violence. 

A further  €500 each went to  PATH(Portlaoise Action To Homelessness),  Tullamore Rape Crisis Centre,  Accessible Counselling,  Tullamore Tidy Towns, Portlaoise Tidy Towns,  Little Blue Heroes,  Cara Projects and the Cara Curley Foundation.

The Electric Picnic Poor Box payments were made by first-time offenders who were caught with relatively small quantities of drugs at the music and arts festival. They were given the option of donating to the Poor Box in lieu of a criminal conviction, but only if they had no previous convictions and admitted the offences.

Poor Box donations are used by the court to assist local charities and also pay for professional reports of psychologists and other professionals where children are affected by proceedings involving domestic violence, custody and access disputes. 

While some donations are ordered to go directly to charities relevant to proceedings, such as to animal welfare charities for someone charged with mistreating animals, a pot of money generally remains with the court at the end of the year to disperse to local charities.   

The distribution of Court Poor Box donations from Portlaoise District Court, which is part of Court District 15 along with Tullamore District Court, is unique in Ireland in that a committee composed of local officials has been assembled to decide on how best to allocate the money. In other Court Districts the money is allocated by the Judge alone. 

https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/crime---court/1319701/new-recruitment-covered-nearly-440-m-budget-for-jails-in-portlaoise-and-elsewhere.html

Above: Recipients of funds from Portlaoise District Court in 2022. Individuals aren't identified.   

The Laois Offaly committee includes Judge Andrew Cody, Garda Inspectors Jane Ryan and Kieran Keyes, Court Service Managers Breda Costello and Catherine Magnier along with solicitors Gerry Meagher and Emily Mahon.

The committee are due to meet later this month when they will decide which charities to donate the court Poor Box proceeds to. It’s anticipated the funds will be greater than what was available last year.