Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The honest, no-nonsense answer to the question is that the Revenue has to enforce penalties through the District Court and that is why this provision is there. The Revenue Commissioners themselves go to the District Court to enforce penalties. On Second Stage, we agreed that a penalty should exist and that people should co-operate. The way of legally enforcing that is through the District Court. This is simply clarifying that if somebody turns up and refuses to accept or pay the penalty, then our legal system kicks in at the level of the District Court, which is in my view the common-sense place for it to exist.