Questionnaire Ireland
II.15 Can the executive influence the prosecution service through its budget?
In theory it can in the sense that it is the
executive that presents the annual estimates for the DPP’s office to
parliament. By increasing or reducing the estimate the executive could exert a
general influence over the productivity of the DPP. It is highly unlikely,
however, that it could manage to do this in a way which would ensure that
certain types of case were or were not prosecuted. In practice the executive
presents the estimates as drawn up by the DPP and does not attempt to interfere
with it in any substantive manner.
