The number of unplanned District Court sittings varies widely across the country, according to figures from the Courts Service.
In one District Court, out-of-hours sittings were equivalent to almost 73 per cent of the number of scheduled sitting days. In other areas the figure was less than 3 per cent.
Sittings in District Courts can be divided into three types: those scheduled in advance by the Courts Service; additional special sittings needed, for example, when additional days are required to hear a long case; and out-of- hours sittings, which take place in the evenings, at weekends or during holidays.
Last year, Carlow had 54 out-of-hours sitting days, equivalent to almost 73 per cent of its 74 scheduled sittings.
Carrick-on-Shannon had 31 out-of-hours sitting days, 70 per cent of the 44 days scheduled by the Courts Service.
The figure was also high for Sligo, with 53 out-of-hours sitting days, 60 per cent of the 88 scheduled days in 2014.
In Kilkenny, 50 out-of-hours sitting days represented 52 per cent of the 96 days scheduled.
In contrast, in Ballina, Castlebar, Donegal, Dublin, Roscommon and Tullamore, out-of- hours days were equivalent to 3 per cent or less of scheduled court sitting days.
For Cork it was 7 per cent and Clonakilty and Ennis were both at 10 per cent.
The percentages were in the teens for Youghal, Naas, Mullingar, Monaghan, Loughrea, Limerick, Letterkenny, Ennis, Dundalk and Cavan. They were in the 20s for Portlaoise, Athlone, Bray, Galway, Mallow, Nenagh and Trim.
In Clonmel, Longford, Tralee, Waterford and Wexford, out-of-hours sitting days as a percentage of scheduled sitting days were in the 30s.
The District Court in Ireland deals with local and summary matters of a criminal, civil, family-law and licensing nature. The country is divided into 23 districts with one or more judges permanently assigned to each district and to the Dublin Metropolitan District. There are 64 judges in total.
Cases are generally heard in the court venue where an offence was committed or where the defendant resides or carries on business or was arrested.
A spokesman for the Courts Service said that in Dublin the District Court is scheduled to sit at weekends, so those hours are recorded as “scheduled”, rather than out-of-hours. But in most other parts of the country there are no such scheduled weekend sittings.
He said out-of-hours sittings are “demand-led” and neither judges nor the Courts Service can decide. They respond to Garda requests.
He also said judges did not get paid overtime, although they could, in the ordinary way, claim travel expenses.
Courts Service staff are paid a call-out allowance each time they are required to attend out-of-hours sittings, which cost €145,000 in 2014.
