Court poor box raises €28,500

MORE than €28,500 was raised for charity in 2014, following the allocation this week of funds from Clare’s District Court poor box.

The funds collected in the poor box were distributed across 23 charities this week by Clare’s District Court Judge Patrick Durcan and the recipient charities are expected to receive the funding prior to Christmas.

This year, the charities benefitting from the most funds are the St Vincent De Paul, with €5,000 allocated to St Senan’s Kilrush conference of St Vincent De Paul and a further €5,000 to St Vincent De Paul in Ennis.

Ennis Community Development Project and the Lions Club of Ennis are set to receive funds of €1,500 each.
Donations of €1,000 were made to 12 charities, which included Hand in Hand (Children’s Cancer Charity); Diabetes Ireland Clare Branch; Dream Believe Achieve; Rape Crisis Midwest Clare Centre; Clare Crusaders; Cahercalla Hospice; Poor Clares in Ennis; The Samaritans, Ennis; ClareCare; Clare Haven Services; Pieta House and Childline.

A further seven charities are set to receive €500 each from the court poor box. These include Seeking Vision; Doolin Search and Rescue; Kilkee Coast Guard Unit; Killaloe/Ballina Search and Rescue; St Caimin’s Search and Rescue, Mountshannon; District Day Care Centre, Clarecastle and Clare Immigrant Support Centre.

The practice of courts directing that money be paid into a court poor box in lieu of or in conjunction with another penalty is predominantly used by the district courts, who deal with criminal offences of a less serious nature than other jurisdictions. The individual amounts can vary substantially depending on ability to pay, other penalties imposed and the nature of the offences.