Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts a fortnight ago, representatives of the Courts Service were in and one of the things that came up was the collection of fines. This has totally to do with the Department of Justice and Equality and the Committee of Public Accounts and it is not relevant here but there is a link with enforcement given that many fines are road traffic fines. The service is down by 38%, according its own figures. Approximately €27 million is outstanding. There are in the region of 90,000 related court cases backed up. We were trying to get our head around this at a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts and we were asking how it could be. It is not the fault of the Garda. It is doing its job and the GoSafe vans are engaging in enforcement at the required level. The issue, however, is with the Fines Act. The Act was to ensure somebody who could not pay a €50 fine because he or she did not have the means would not go to jail and would instead be able to do community service. The Department of Justice and Equality was advised the measures could not be implemented. In the meantime, there is the unintended consequence of a huge drop in enforcement. Can the delegates help this committee in any way in this regard? Clearly, we know we need to take the matter up with the Department of Justice and Equality and its Minister. Is there any assistance the delegates could give us while they are here today? If they cannot answer, that is 100% acceptable. I wanted to mention this while the delegates were here because the matter is in the media.