Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

Although I do not know whether the Minister of State has ever been in the courts, one does not need a statutory provision to state that citizens of the State can make representations to the court because it is a constitutional right. There are no bonus points available for stating that under subsection (10) persons must be given a reasonable opportunity to make representations to the court; there is a constitutional right to do so.

What I am saying is quite different, that where there is a danger of imprisonment the courts, under this enactment, must be able to determine that the person is in a position to pay the monetary fine or realise the asset sought by the court. The provision that the Minister of State suggests is quite separate and extraneous to that argument. I do not see why the principle, if he has accepted it, should not be captured in the Bill.

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