Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

It is not quite as simple as Deputy Crawford has suggested. Deduction from current entitlements will continue and will be extended as far as possible. However, due to the financial circumstances of many of our customers, the written consent of the claimant is required in cases where deductions from current entitlements would bring his or her payment below the appropriate rate of supplementary allowance. In other words, a person in receipt of the basic level of support must give his or her agreement to go below that. Moreover, Deputies from all sides of the House have complained to me that repayments being demanded by the Department are too onerous and that we should go easier on people in these circumstances.

The Fines Bill 2009 provides, for the first time, for instalment payments. We are all aware of cases in the past where people of very limited means were subject to large fines which they were unable to pay in one lump sum. That problem is dealt with in the Fines Bill. Unless a person refuses to co-operate with the system, there is no reason he or she should be imprisoned for not paying a fine.

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