The Supreme Court has allowed Sharon Buckley’s appeal against the renewal of 12 warrants issued after she failed to pay fines for road traffic offences. It held that the renewals were invalid because the Gardaí knew where she was, so the legal basis for renewing the warrants was not met.
The warrants related to 12 offences and fines totalling €4,600. Buckley had not attended court or been represented in any of the cases. Each fine carried a term of imprisonment in default of payment. The warrants were issued between October 2007 and March 2009, then renewed in August 2008 and September 2009.
The Supreme Court considered the rules governing renewal of committal warrants, including section 33 of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act 1851 and the District Court Rules. It concluded that, for these penal warrants, renewal required evidence that the person could not be found. The Court distinguished an earlier case involving civil enforcement and said it did not justify a broader power to renew warrants addressed to Gardaí.
The certificates submitted for the renewals stated that Buckley was known to Gardaí and that she was aware of the warrants. The Court said they made clear that her whereabouts were known. It found the statutory criterion for renewal was therefore not satisfied, making the renewals invalid. It also rejected as having no substance the argument that the Courts (No. 2) Act 1991 had implicitly repealed the renewal power.
The evidence about Buckley’s dealings with Garda Rowland was disputed. He said she had agreed to surrender herself for arrest after Christmas; she denied making such an assurance and said she had offered to pay by instalments. As neither side sought cross-examination on the affidavits, the Court declined to make findings of lack of candour. It said the question of whether defendants must be notified of renewal applications did not need to be decided.
A separate issue concerned the twelfth warrant, linked to a €150 fine. Buckley’s solicitor sent a cheque for that amount in November 2009, but it was returned. The Supreme Court held that the fine had been paid and that the Garda should not have returned the cheque. It said the power to imprison for default lapsed once the fine was paid.
The Court allowed the appeal. The judgment does not state a separate order quashing each warrant; its conclusion was that the renewals were invalid.