This article is from page 10 of the 2014-07-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
A SPECIAL sitting of Ennis District Court will take place today to deal with alleged drugs offences.
It is the first time the court has sat specifically to deal with alleged offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
A total of 69 cases are due to be heard at the District Court, which is due to get underway at 10.30. The cases concern allegations against 34 people some of whom are charged with multiple offences.
In some cases, defendants are facing non-drug related charges.
Pleas of guilty have been entered in many of the cases, while others are due to be contested.
In cases where defendants have pleaded guilty, Judge Patrick Durcan has already ordered the preparation of pre-sentence reports from the Probation Services.
These reports are read and considered by the presiding judge before passing sentence.
The reports often look at a person’s backgrounds and explains the reasons why they may have started using drugs.
The move to hear cases involving a specific category of crime was introduced in Clare this year by the District Court judge for the area, Patrick Durcan.
It is understood that one of the reasons to hear all cases involving drugs offences in one day was to ensure a level of consistency in sentencing, where it applies.
Special hearing days have already been set aside road traffic cases and general crimes such as public order and criminal damage offences.
The move towards specialised hearing days is also an attempt to introduce a greater degree of efficiency into the way criminal cases are heard in the courts in Clare.