Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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In order to collect these fines, because of an anomaly in the legislation, if I, Marc Mac Sharry for example, was done for a fine and did not pay it, the court would have to bring me back to have additional hearings in order for me to then say that I cannot afford to pay it. I could then be given community service, which is going to clog up the whole Courts Service. The service then is therefore not going to call the person back and we are going to end up with many strikeouts again and presumably we will not be given the reason for them. The reason is that there is an anomaly in the legislation that, instead of the defendant being able to stand up at the opening hearing and say "I cannot afford this", it can be then said that the person can do his or her 20 hours community service or whatever it is in lieu. The fines have dropped because nobody is in a position to follow up. Unscrupulous people who should be paying fines are wise to this now and are not paying them and the system will not pursue them because it is too-----