Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this welcome legislation. When citizens break the law there are consequences involved. The use of fines is a punishment which is intended to be an encouragement for people not to break the law. Fines are widely used by the Courts Service as a cost-effective punishment for specific offences.

The Minister, Deputy Shatter, outlined the three main objectives of the legislation. These are restoring confidence in the administration of justice where fines have been imposed by the courts, ensuring that fines imposed by the courts are collected and reducing the number of people committed to prison each year for the non-payment of fines. I do not believe anyone can argue with those objectives. I wish to focus on the final objective first. The increase in the number of committals to prison in respect of the non-payment of fines is extraordinary, particularly when one considers that the average fine amounts to just over €300. The majority of fines imposed are for amounts of less than €200. In 2007, 1,335 people were committed to prison for non-payment of fines. Just five years later - in 2012 - that number had increased to an incredible 8,304. Who are the people who would go to prison rather than pay fines and why do they take this course of action? The answers in this regard are complex. I understand that some individuals are even being jailed for non-payment of their television licence fee. Is it a case that they cannot pay, that they will not pay or a combination of both?

I am of the view that the punishment should be appropriate to the offence committed. I further believe that imprisonment for non-payment of sums of between €200 and €300 is a waste of public money. However, if fines are imposed, they must be paid. The legislation will keep to a minimum the number of people committed to prison for such transgressions. This will fit well with our overall aim to restrict the prison population to a minimum. It is in all our interests to do so, particularly when one considers that in 2012 the average cost to the taxpayer regarding the incarceration of each prisoner was €65,404. That figure, which does not include the cost of education, is staggering.

Imposing fines which take account of the means of the person involved is critical. Fining people with higher means will have very little impact on them in comparison to individuals who have lesser means. In the context of the provision whereby people will be permitted top pay fines over a period of 12 instalments, I request that consideration be given to using the previous period of 24 instalments in certain circumstances. I understand that such a move has been recommended by the Irish Penal Reform Trust. Every effort should be made to simplify the payment of fines by means of instalment by allowing for their collection via the services offered by An Post and the banks. This will ensure that fines will be paid by those upon whom they are imposed.

I welcome the provision which will permit the sharing of data by Revenue, the Department of Social Protection and the Courts Service. I also welcome the fact that attachments of earnings will apply in respect of unpaid fines. However, we should give careful consideration to the recommendation contained in the report on penal reform, which was produced by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality and to which previous speakers referred, to the effect that prison sentences of less than six months duration in respect of non-violent offences should be commuted and replaced with community service orders. This recommendation should be implemented as soon as possible.

In the broader context, an impression has been given that the payment of a fine removes one's debt to society. In that context and like previous speakers, I am of the view that the imposition of fines in respect of significant sexual offences is not the correct route to take. People should not be able to buy their way out of certain offences which are grossly offensive to the majority of the population merely because they have the money to do so. Society faces a challenge in ensuring that citizens operate within the law, which is vital to ensure that society can function. The legislation before the House will go a long way towards ensuring that people who are fined for minor offences will be kept out of the prison system.

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