More than 1,500 juvenile offenders were brought before the Children's Court in Dublin last year and more than 220 received sentences of detention.
65 were sent forward for trial in higher courts because of the seriousness of their crimes.
These figures are contained in the 2004 annual report of the Courts Service. The report released today shows that 700,000 matters were dealt with by the courts system last year.
127 judges sit in 180 court venues around Ireland. The courts service has a staff of over 1,000 and an annual budget of €97 million.
In 2004 both the Supreme and High Courts saw continued increases in their workload, while there has been a significant reduction in the rape and murder cases received by the Central Criminal Court, down from 123 in 2001 to 68 least year.
In the three years since 2001 there has been a 73% increase in the number of assault and public order offences dealt with by the Dublin District Court.
In family law the number of divorces granted has increased by 22% to 3,347 since 2000.
This the first year that information has been available on the Dublin Children's Court. Of 1,593 children brought before the court last year 222 were detained and 65 were sent forward for trial to higher courts.
Four of these juveniles were 15 years old, the majority were aged 17.
