Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 14 November 2019

Public Accounts Committee

2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 22: Courts Service

9:00 am

Mr. Peter Mullan:

I am about to explain. One of the purposes of the Act was to put in place a regime for people who could not pay fines. Prior to this, people who could not pay small fines such as those relating to their television licences were imprisoned for a short time, often leading to a revolving-door situation with other prisoners having to be released to accommodate them. If a fine was not paid within the default period, it would be re-entered by way of a fines notice, the matter would come back before a court and a District Court judge would decide how the matter would be dealt with. Various orders were available to the judge, such as making an attachment order, requiring community service, making a recovery order or, ultimately, imprisonment. The policy of the Department was to deflect people who could not pay small fines away from entering the prison regime. The working out of the Act has not been exactly as envisaged by the Department and it has meant the Act has not operated as it should. Accordingly, the payment of fines to the Exchequer has reduced considerably.