Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputies for their remarks on the genuine efforts we have made in this group of amendments to try to keep as many people as possible out of prison for non-payment of fines, while ensuring that those on whom fines are imposed ultimately pay what is due. We had to be careful to ensure the provisions did not give rise to a significant number of additional court hearings, a concern raised by Deputy Charlie Flanagan. For this reason, we set out to minimise the number of court hearings and ensure court time is not wasted.

If a fine of, for instance, €1,000 is ordered, a recovery order is issued and a receiver designated to take goods in lieu in the event of non-payment of the fine. At that stage, reference is not made to prison. However, if a receiver returns to the court with a nulla bona - no goods - at that point, the case would be re-entered to the court, the person assessed for a community service order and, with his or her consent, requested. The court would then make a community service order or impose imprisonment in default of complying with the order.

We considered introducing a threshold of perhaps a couple of hundred euro under which imprisonment would not be imposed. We found, however, that as there would be no sanction or onus on persons who were unwilling to pay a fine, such persons would be able to circumvent the system and avoid paying a fine. For this reason, imprisonment was required as the ultimate sanction. We also concluded that the inclusion of a threshold could result in judges increasing the fine above any threshold introduced in the legislation.

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