Criminal court dates treble over six years – DPP
The Director of Public Prosecutions has reported a significant rise in criminal court activity and investigation files, with the volume and complexity of its work continuing to increase.
The DPP’s annual report for 2025 shows that Central Criminal Court sitting dates nationally rose by 8% compared with 2024.
The increase forms part of a much larger rise in activity over recent years, with the number of sitting dates more than trebling from 1,888 in 2019 to 5,663 in 2025.
There were 867 Central Criminal Court sitting dates outside Dublin during the year.
The increase in court activity comes as the DPP also dealt with a higher number of investigation files.
The Office received 17,470 files in 2025, representing a 5% increase on the previous year.
Specialist legal consideration
Almost 12,000 of those files, involving 14,975 suspects, related to serious offences requiring specialist legal consideration.
Overall, 66% of files resulted in a direction to prosecute, with prosecution decisions divided between proceedings on indictment and summary disposal.
A further 32% resulted in a decision that no prosecution should be brought.
The Office said 73% of files requiring a decision were processed within four weeks.
DPP Catherine Pierse said the statistics demonstrated a “sustained high level of activity” across the criminal justice system.
“The Office received almost 17,500 prosecution files during the year, while court activity, particularly in the Central Criminal Court, continued at historically elevated levels,” she said.
The report also highlights the growing scale of digital evidence in criminal investigations.
During 2025, the Office reviewed approximately 15 terabytes of digital material, including CCTV footage and mobile-phone downloads.
Handling disclosure of evidence
The handling and disclosure of evidence has also become an increasingly significant issue.
Following major Supreme Court judgments delivered in 2024 and 2025, the DPP undertook changes to its operational procedures, policies and training, including a revision of how counselling records are handled and disclosed.
The DPP handled 214 confiscation and forfeiture orders, returning over €12 million to the Exchequer.
It also brought 34 applications to the Court of Appeal regarding undue leniency, of which 23 were successful.