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Courts Service Statistics 2014

We publish below the figures for applications under the Child Care Act for 2014 from the Courts Service. This is the fourth year we publish these figures, and it should enable some comparison with previous years. However, the Courts Service has modified the way in which it collects and collates these figures, so direct comparison with previous years is not possible. On the other hand, we understand that this year’s figures have been drawn up according to a national template for the first time, so the method of collecting them is more consistent.

There is also a greater break-down both of applications and of outcomes, as detailed below, as well as the inclusion of new categories, which strictly speaking are not applications. This includes the category of “Review of Care Orders”, which accounts for 806 of the total number of matters listed in the statistics.

As the Courts Service itself points out, it is important to stress that the number of applications does not reflect the number of children who are the subject of orders, as several orders may be made in respect of an individual child.

In 2014 the number of headings under which cases were filed rose from four (Supervision Order, Emergency Care Order, Interim Care Order, Care Order) to nine. They are, with the abbreviations we are using in brackets: Supervision Order (SO); Interim Care Order (ICO); Extension of Interim Care Order (Ext ICO); Care Order (CO); Extension of Care Order (Ext CO); Review of Care Order (Rev CO); Emergency Care Order (ECO); Re-entry of case (Re-entry) and Other. “Other” probably includes applications made under Section 47 of the Act (relating to the welfare of a child in care, including access) and matters relating to whether another jurisdiction should hear the case.

The inclusion of the categories “Review of Care Order” and “Extension of Care Order”, which reflects the practice in some courts, has undoubtedly pushed up the total number of child care matters recorded, which was 9,864 last year, compared with 8,714 the previous year. However, it we deduct the number of reviews and extensions of existing Care Orders, the number falls to 8,660, slightly below the 2013 figures.

The outcomes published by the Courts Service this year also rose from two in previous years (applications made and granted) to seven, although one of these, “Bench Warrant issued”, almost never arises in child care and we have not included it in our panel below. The headings, with the abbreviations we are using in brackets, are: Totals; Granted; Refused; Struck out/withdrawn (SO/Wdr); Interim Order (Int Order); and Adjourned (Adj).

We also show the total number of applications dealt with in each District Court area, along with the total number of applications granted, indicating the success rate of the applications across all District Court areas, which vary. Apart from the national figures, we have not added up the total numbers in each District Court area which were refused, struck out or withdrawn, adjourned or the subject of an interim order, as this is evident from the figures themselves.

Where an application is adjourned, we know from attending court this is likely to be combined with an order being extended, as, unless an order is refused, withdrawn or struck out, it is unlikely that the application will be adjourned with no order in place.

As we have noted in previous years, the volumes dealt with by various towns of roughly similar size vary greatly. In some instances this may be explained by very lengthy and complex cases generating a great many repeat applications in an individual case, but in others the low volumes continue a pattern we have seen in previous years. This is particularly the case with a number of medium-sized midland towns, which have reported low numbers of child protection applications over the past four years. These are Athlone, Carlow, Longford, Mullingar, Portlaoise, Roscommon and Tullamore, with Bray and Galway also reporting a lower number of applications than might be expected given their size and that of their hinterland. There the number of applications last year ranged from 16 to 61 (Galway), averaging 37.

In contrast, towns of similar size, for example Letterkenny and Mallow at opposite ends of the country, had 368 and 231 applications respectively last year, continuing a pattern over previous years that never saw the number fall below 200.

There is an apparent anomaly in the Cork city figures, which showed an increase in child care matters from 617 in 2013 to 1,522 last year, However, this is explained by the fact that 712 of those were either reviews or extensions of existing Care Orders, Indeed, Cork accounted for 475 such reviews, almost 60 per cent of the total of 806 for the whole State.

National figures

By District Court, in alphabetical order

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Courts Service Child Care Statistics for 2013

Courts Service Child Care Statistics for 2012

Courts Service Child Care Statistics for 2011