In the Dublin metropolitan area alone, 17,985 bench warrants have not been enforced. Limerick, the second worst offender in the country, has 1,024 dormant warrants, followed by Cork with 994 and Galway with 696.

The revelation will compound the judiciary's indignation at being accused by justice minister Michael McDowell of passing light sentences on serious criminals. One of the new measures in the Criminal Justice Bill 2007 provides for mandatory jail sentences for gangland crime.

The vast majority of bench warrants are issued by judges in the district courts.

Most are related to traffic offences and non-payment of fines but many also arise from breaches of bail conditions.

The bail system, too, is being further restricted by the new Criminal Justice Bill.

After 22-year-old mother Donna Cleary was shot dead in Coolock one year ago, it emerged that there had been an outstanding bench warrant against the chief suspect, Dwayne Foster, who died in garda custody. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said in the Dail that Donna Cleary would still be alive if that warrant had been acted upon.

When two gardai, Tony Tighe and Michael Padden, were killed by a speeding stolen car on the Stillorgan dual-carriageway in Dublin, it was revealed during the subsequent prosecutions that a bench warrant for one of the young men in the car had never been executed.

Similarly, it was reported after Mayo farmer Padraig Nally fatally shot John Ward, a member of the Travelling community, that there had been four outstanding arrest warrants in the dead man's name.

The Courts Service declined to comment on the disclosure that 27,060 bench warrants were outstanding nationwide.