Director of Public Prosecutions

The Director of Public Prosecutions is the officer charged with the prosecution, in the name of the People, of all indictable criminal offences in Ireland since the enactment of the Prosecution of Offences Act, 1974. Before 1974 all crimes and offences were prosecuted at the suit of the Attorney General.

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In the United Kingdom, the office of Director of Public Prosecutions was first created in 1880 as part of the Home Office, and had its own department from 1908. The DPP was only responsible for the prosecution of a small number of major cases until 1986 when responsibility for all prosecutions was transferred to a new Crown Prosecution Service with the DPP as its head.

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History of the DPP and CPS