Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)

The Minister conveys his thanks to Deputy O'Dowd for raising this important matter. He is very much aware of the additional strain this is placing on the courts system. The current position in regard to the collection of fines has been under examination by senior officials of his Department for some time. The focus of these efforts has been to increase payment compliance on first issue of a fixed charge summons and thus reduce the number of these offences that subsequently require listing before the courts due to non-payment.

In April of last year, 31 new offences were categorised as fixed charge penalties. Additionally, legislation was introduced to increase incrementally the number of penalty points on conviction and increase the amount of the fine if not paid after 28 days. This has had an effect in reducing the number of these cases which would otherwise have found their way before the courts.

In addition to these legislative changes, a pilot study was commissioned by departmental officials to examine the feasibility of, as the Deputy suggests, handing over the collection of such fixed charge penalties to an external credit management agency. As part of this pilot project, more than 5,000 cases going back over several years were selected, with a value in the region of €2 million. These were passed over to an external credit management agency to effect payment.

The process involved a letter cycle consisting of three letters escalating in tone and severity over a seven week period from the date the account was received for collection. These were sent to each of the 5,000 defaulters. In between letters, the agency attempted to obtain contact telephone numbers for the debtors; this was done between letters one and three of the collection cycle. Where these contact details were obtained, the defaulters were contacted and reminded of their obligations. Any additional defaulter information gleaned by the agency as a result of the above activities was recorded in an on-line database. The preliminary results of this pilot study were quite encouraging, with over 22% of cases being cleared up.

The Minister would also like to inform the Deputy that officials are currently finalising their assessment of the pilot study with a view to establishing its introduction on a wider footing. This assessment has not yet been fully completed but legal issues as well as procurement matters have emerged as areas requiring careful consideration. Despite this, the Minister is of the opinion that there are very good grounds for introducing this system on a wider footing.

Notwithstanding the issues raised by the Deputy, the Minister remains firmly of the view that the fixed-penalty system continues to have great merit in the tackling of the issues being faced by the courts and will increasingly have an impact in reducing the number of such cases appearing before the courts in future.

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