Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak to this new Bill. I support the legislation, as I support all reforms that will help make the justice system fairer and more accountable and transparent. Many citizens believe the system is unfair and I agree with them in many cases. As a member of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, I seek to ensure the justice system is fair and transparent for all citizens. People want reform introduced now.

From the point of view of human justice and costs to the State, it is not necessary to imprison non-violent and petty offenders. There appears to be one law for the rich and powerful and another for the rest of us, as was exposed in the recent penalty points scandal. The hypocrisy evident in this regard is unacceptable. I am sick and tired of some influential people getting off, while the rest of us must pay fines and have penalty points applied to our licences. The vast majority of people believe this type of carry-on is not acceptable in a democratic society and has no place in a justice system that claims to be fair.

I receive five or six telephone calls every week from victims of our justice system who have been treated badly. I urge real action and reform of the justice system.

To return to the legislation and events in the real world, in 2012 there were 8,304 committals to prison for fines default, including 1,687 female committals. This practice imposes great strain on the prison system and generates significant costs for taxpayers, families and communities. That more than 85% of people imprisoned for fines default return to prison within four years demonstrates how damaging and ineffective is the practice of imprisoning people for fines default. I support the legislation for this reason.

The Bill proposes to amend the fines system and complete the process commenced with the Fines Act of 2010, which created a modern, standardised system in which all fines fall into five distinct classes that should be easily adjustable over time. It is also designed to provide a more flexible system for the payment and recovery of fines. The Fines Act 2010 has not been completely commenced and all uncommenced sections relate to the payment and recovery of fines. If a person fails to pay a fine within one year, options can be forced upon him or her by a court but only where he or she has been summoned to a court meeting to determine the appropriate court action. The options to be considered are a recovery order, an attachment order or a community service order. If effective, the Bill should generally reduce the number of persons imprisoned for the non-payment of fines, cut associated costs to the State and increase State revenue through greater collection rates for fines.

The justice system has made major mistakes in certain crime cases. In what became known as the "garlic man" case, Mr. Paul Begley was sentenced to six years in prison, despite paying taxes owed and a fine arising from non-payment of VAT. Many people sensibly asked what was going on in the case as a community service order would have been more appropriate than a prison sentence, particularly as the sum owed was repaid to Revenue. Mr. Begley was eventually released from prison following considerable lobbying. His six year sentence resulted in a significant waste of resources.

It is scandalous that people who have committed rape, murder and other extremely violent crimes have been given similar sentences of between six and eight years. In the case of a journalist who was killed on his way home from a pub an individual was sentenced to a couple of years in prison. People are regularly stabbed and their attackers get away with all sorts of light sentences, while many of those charged with violent crimes are released on bail.

This Bill deals with petty crimes. I accept that letting people off lightly with any crime does not do society any favours. This is important legislation and I hope many of its reforms will be implemented.

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