Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

As the Deputy has noted, the majority of the Fines Act 2010 has been commenced. It is important to note that section 14 of the Act, which has been commenced, places an obligation on the courts for the first time to take account of a person's financial circumstances before determining that a fine is to be imposed. This provision means that no person should be sent to prison for default solely because he or she cannot afford to pay a fine.

Implementation work is continuing on two key sections of Act. Section 15 provides for the payment of fines by instalment. There are a number of practical and technical issues required to commence this provision. As the Deputy will appreciate, the current system of payment allows only for a single payment in respect of each fine to be made within a specified period and this payment is recorded on the court's IT system, the criminal case tracking system or CCTS.

In order to allow for a fine to be paid by instalments over a year or in certain circumstances for a longer period, it is necessary for the CCTS to be substantially modified to allow for the payment of instalments and to ensure that such instalments are accurately recorded and tracked. In that regard, I met with the Courts Service management and informed it of this Government's commitment to ensuring that payment by instalments is introduced as speedily as possible.

Arriving from that meeting, the Courts Service has put in place a structure to oversee the implementation of the necessary modifications. Unfortunately no such structure was put in place by the former Government. I am informed that, assuming the necessary funding is available, it will take approximately 12 months to complete the administrative and technical modifications required. I expect to receive a report, including implementation proposals, from the service by the end of next month.

Section 16 of the 2010 Act will require a judge, consequent on determining the fines be imposed, to make an order appointing an approved person, commonly referred to as a receiver, to recover the fine in the event of default. The Courts Service has engaged in some preliminary discussions with the Revenue sheriffs, who have relevant experience through their work in the recovery of outstanding tax liabilities on behalf of the State, with a view to sheriffs being nominated as approved persons and I understand this dialogue will resume in the near future. Some IT enhancements will be necessary in order to allow for the electronic transfer of recovery orders and data exchange with the receivers. I am informed this work will take approximately six months to complete. It will be done concurrently with that mentioned.

It seems likely that some minor amendments will be required to the 2010 Act to address some practical implementation issues, including the need to provide for some form of retainer payment for work undertaken in circumstances where a fine cannot be recovered. These are the timescales available to me. The Government is subject to these caveats and committed to implementing the remaining provisions of the Fines Act 2010 as speedily as possible.

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