Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I support the amendment. This is extremely disappointing. As Deputy Naughten said, there is a major anomaly in that Fine Gael actually brought forward a number of Bills providing for attachment of fines but we have the ridiculous situation where somebody is sent to Mountjoy Prison because he or she owes some money. It costs €290 per night to keep somebody in Mountjoy Prison, not to mention what it costs to send him or her there. The Government would not rectify that anomaly. Many people would gladly pay their fines, perhaps in the form of €10 per week from their social welfare payments, wages, etc. However, the Minister deemed it unfit to bring in an attachment of fines in such cases.

In this instance, while it is finely worded, it is an attachment of earnings. The Department is not satisfied with getting the full income a person receives from the rural environmental protection scheme or in the form of a single payment, headage payment or any other payment paid by it or the EU. It is now prepared to extend it to a person's milk cheque or other income. It is extremely disappointing that no understanding or leniency has been shown in this regard.

As my colleague, Deputy Naughten, said, the major issue is that a precedent is being set. The former Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Joe Walsh, told us on several occasions that we would discuss it again in a year's time and so on. However, we now know how little that meant.

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