Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

What will happen if, say, my car is stolen and somebody goes through a barrier? What will be open to me in terms of defending myself, having not been directly involved in abusing the law in the payment of a toll?

Why do we always talk of imprisonment? Surely in a case like this a community service order would be more appropriate. If one wanted to keep punishment within the road network, many forms of community service could be used such as the cleaning of roads, the clearing of weeds and so on. The idea that we must always build into legislation this maximum of six months imprisonment is ridiculous in this day and age, particularly when our prisons, as the Ceann Comhairle will know from his days as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, are packed with people who perhaps have not paid their television licence fee and so on. Prisons should be used to deal with serious crime. I accept, however, that if one does not pay one's due toll some punishment must be imposed. Surely it is more appropriate to have community service orders. What is the position on someone defending himself or herself who did not know what happened when his or her car was stolen?

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