Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

These amendments were introduced on Committee Stage and are designed to ensure that when a person is convicted on indictment for a criminal offence and the court decides the appropriate penalty is a fine, the level of the fine that can be imposed will be no less than €10,000. On Committee Stage I undertook to consult the Attorney General on any legal or constitutional implications that might arise, and I did so. Deputy Sherlock stated that the Fines Bill 2007 provided for a minimum fine of €10,000 on conviction on indictment and that all his amendments seek to do is to restate that policy.

Following a full re-examination of the provision of the 2007 Bill, it was decided that some elements could be improved. It was also decided to greatly expand the scope of the Bill. That is why it was withdrawn and replaced by this Bill. The main provision that we believed could be improved was section 7, as it was considered to be unnecessarily complicated and restrictive. It has been replaced by what is now section 8.

I would not agree that the 2007 Bill provided for a minimum fine of €10,000. Rather, it replaced all fines on indictment with a maximum value of less than €10,000 in specific Acts with a maximum fine of €10,000. The amendments would unnecessarily reduce, to an extent, the discretion of judges when deciding on the appropriate fine to impose in a particular case. I thank the Deputy for the amendments but, having considered the position, I cannot accept them.

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