Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

A direct question to the Minister for Justice and Law Reform could get the exact information. My understanding is that most of the provisions of the Fines Act will be brought into operation on 1 January next. On the specific point raised, the reason commencement orders are sometimes inserted into legislation is to facilitate some work to be done, in this case by the Courts Service, on how the matter would work in practice. The point has been made by the Deputy and it will be followed up by the Minister to introduce it as quickly as possible.

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