REVEALED: Electric Picnic drug busts fuel half of Court's €300k poor box donation spree

A local judge announced the largest Court Poor Box contribution by any court district in the State with half of the €301,000 coming from Electric Picnic drug fines.

Judge Andrew Cody announced details of the poor box donations at a sitting of Portlaoise District Court on Thursday, June 19. He said the allocation was the largest in the State and was boosted by fines issued to Electric Picnic festival goers. In total 150 charities benefitted from the donations.   

First time offenders who were caught with drugs and given the opportunity to pay a fine accounted for a whopping €150,000 of the contributions. A further €104,000 in cash was collected in Police Property Applications, where cash seized in criminal investigations is forfeited to the State. A total of 6,000 litres of confiscated diesel was also  donated to charity by this method.

Almost all of the €104,000 from Police Property Applications was donated to juvenile sections of Laois GAA clubs. 

Judge Cody said in recent weeks the District Court in District 15, which includes Laois and Offaly,has  donated just over €300,000 to local charities and clubs and to national and international charities through the Court Poor Box and as a result of Police Property Applications this year. 

He explained that the practice of courts directing that money be paid into a Court Poor Box, instead of or in conjunction with another penalty, is a practice which predates the foundation of the State. The practice appears to go back in history and stem from judges' jurisdiction at common law to exercise discretion in imposing a penalty, if any, and/or imposing other conditions i.e., donations to the Poor Box or to a particular charity.

Judge Cody said: "Most regular attendees at the District Court will be familiar with the basic concept of the Court Poor Box system: a person who has been charged with a minor criminal offence, usually a first-time offender, may be given one chance to avoid a criminal record by making a contribution to charity through the court poor box. There are many reasons such as the offences on the more minor side of the scale, the accused may never previously have been before the courts, the accused may have pleaded guilty, a conviction might be inappropriate, or might adversely affect employment, career or working abroad prospects.

Typical cases where the Court Poor Box is used include first time possession of a small amount of drugs particularly cannabis or cocaine, breaches of the peace, intoxication, or disorderly conduct in a public place, threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour in a public place, or failing to comply with a direction from An Garda Síochána,, or minor assaults, and payments to the Court Poor Box are generally less than €500 in each case. The individual amounts can vary substantially depending on ability to pay, other penalties imposed, and the nature of the offences,” said Judge Cody. 

He said “charities regularly benefit from other payments from court cases being concluded, because as an alternative to using the poor box, judges regularly direct defendants to pay monies directly to a charity and produce a receipt for same. In addition to the funds being allocated from the Court Poor Box significant amounts have already been donated to specific charities. The amount available has increased significantly and the balance on hand for distribution this year was €197,000. The amount available for distribution in District 15 is significantly higher that other Districts, boosted by Court Poor Box donations arising from prosecutions for drugs offences during the Electric Picnic Festival.”

All donations are lodged centrally to the Courts Service and fully audited, and a full list of all donations by each District are published on the Courts website each year. 

“Normally monies paid out of the Court Poor Box are at the discretion of the assigned Judge. However, in this district these funds are allocated by a committee and the allocations are announced publicly. This year the following committee decided unanimously on the distribution of such funds from the Court Por Box," said Judge Cody. 

The committee for 2025 is Acting Portaloise Court Office Manager, Sheila Larkin, Tullamore Court Office Manager, Robert Hogan, Garda Inspector Barry Collins, An Garda Siochana Tullamore,  Garda Inspector Jane Ryan, An Garda Siochana Portlaoise, Portlaoise Solicitor Eimear Dunne, Tullamore Solicitor, Niall Moran, Judge Andrew Cody and Judge Susan Fay. 

Following a meeting in the last week the Committee agreed to donate €197,000 from the Court Poor Box.

“The increased resources allowed us to be more generous this year. This arose primarily from the increased donations following prosecutions for possession of drugs arising out of the Electric Picnic Festival. The total this year from Electric Picnic was approximately €150,000,” explained Judge Cody. 

In addition, he said, “there were several Police Property Applications to the District Court on Friday 16th May 2025 at Portlaoise District Court which resulted in over €100,000 being donated to the juvenile sections of several GAA Clubs.”

Judge Cody explained that the Police Property Act 1897 provides: "Where any property has come into the possession of the police in connection with any criminal charge... a court of summary jurisdiction may, on application, either by an officer of the police or by a claimant of the property, make an order for the delivery of the property to the person appearing to the ... court to be the owner thereof, or, if the owner cannot be ascertained, make such order with respect to the property as to the... court may seem meet."

“The District Court can therefore deal with such property and if satisfied that the real owner cannot be identified it can dispose of the funds as the court thinks proper. This decision is a matter for the presiding judge,” he said. 

At a sitting of the District Court on May 16, 2025 the court dealt with several applications for the disposal of cash mostly. This money was predominantly seized during searches for drugs and was thought to be the proceeds of crime. 

“In total €104,000 was distributed to the clubs listed below to be utilised solely to purchase training equipment as required, so as to aid underage/juvenile development in sports. No monies are to be spent by the adult sections of these same clubs.

In addition to the distribution of cash the court directed that 6,000 litres of confiscated diesel be donated to Portlaoise Rugby Club to power the generator for their floodlights,” said Judge Cody. 

Garda Sergeant JJ Kirby said the donations would be very beneficial to the charities and he was “especially the juvenile GAA teams” who he said did a lot of work. He thanked Judge Cody on behalf of the GAA. 

Judge Cody singled out the work of the boxing clubs in Portlaoise and Tullamore who he said do great work and divert aggression in an alternative way.

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