Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I pay tribute to the authors of the committee's report. I am currently a member of the committee although I was not at the time of the report. I congratulate Deputy David Stanton on his honest hard work and the committee members on the consultative process and on producing a constructive and positive report. It is also critical in examining future reforms that are needed in the system.

We need to continue the change in our prisons to see what we want as a Parliament and as a people. Prison is there to punish people who have committed serious crime and protect the victims of crime and the public. Some of the sentences handed out should be longer because some crimes are appalling. Standard sentences ought to be increased.

At the same time, a significant number of people in prison should not be there. I have interesting statistics on the number of people committed to prison in the past 12 months from a reply to a parliamentary question. In the past 12 months, the latest for which figures are provided, some 8,965 committals to prison were made last year for people who did not pay fines. The number of women in prison has risen from 2007, when there were 159 women committed to prison for non-payment of fines.

That was 12% of all prisoners committed at that time. In 2014, that increased to the appalling number of 3,093. That is the number of females who were brought to prison for non-payment of fines last year, which was 19% of all prisoners. There has been a significant increase in the number of women committed to prison, about which I am very concerned.

If we look at the number of people committed to prison for non-payment of fines last year, it is as if the population of Dungarvan and its environs, which is roughly 9,000, was brought by a Garda car to the nearest prison, with perhaps with one to two gardaí present, and then went through the committal process. The committal process is a standard operational procedure. All offenders are assessed and accommodation is appropriated according to their needs. Dedicated units exist for this. Once a prisoner is committed to prison, the warrant is executed and the prisoner is brought to the reception area where he or she is searched and his or her property is retained and logged. He or she is then brought into the committal unit. Each prisoner is given an information booklet, outlining his or her rights, duties and obligations and is assessed, including the risk to self-harm, if any exists, and undergoes a health care assessment in the unit. The prison governor then speaks to the prisoner.

On 18 February 2015, there were 55 committals to custody for non-payment of fines, information which was contained in a parliamentary question. That means 55 Garda cars arrived at prisons with 55 prisoners, none of whom had paid their fines. Of these, 49 were released on temporary release that day. The fact is the system is giving the two fingers to this Parliament and to the people because this Parliament passed legislation that this would cease and that no more prisoners would be brought to prison as a default for non-payment of fines. That Bill was signed on April 2014, so almost one year ago, this Parliament, the Minister, the Government and the Opposition, including Fianna Fáil and Independent Deputies, said they wanted this to stop but it is still going on.

Last week a gentleman came to my clinic who had a fine he could not pay. A garda has called to him on more than one occasion to say he will have to pay this fine. He has a young family and is on €230 per week social welfare. He does not have the money to pay the fine and the law we passed states that he can arrange to pay it over a period of time, for example, a year. However, he cannot do that and he will be brought to prison very shortly. It does not make sense; we are not dealing with this issue. We decided what would happen but the system has failed utterly. I am talking about the Civil Service and not about the politicians. We passed a law but we have failed to protect these people and offer them an alternative to what is happening.

There is a very interesting discussion on page 14 of the report Deputy Stanton and his committee produced about what will happen when the Fines Act is implemented. The discussion is with Mr. Jimmy Martin from the Probation Service at the Sub-Committee on Penal Reform and it reads as follows:

Mr. Jimmy Martin: As soon as the Courts Service has adjusted its computers, we will provide a commencement order that will bring it into effect. I know money has been provided in this year’s budget to adjust the computer system but I do not know how long it will take.

Chairman: How many people were processed every year?

Mr. Jimmy Martin: Over 100,000 people received fines and some 7,000---

Senator Ivana Bacik: The figure for 2011 is 7,000.

Mr. Jimmy Martin: I do not have the figures before me but that sounds about right.

Chairman: The hope is that this will reduce substantially.

Mr. Jimmy Martin: It will be almost eliminated.

Chairman: It will take pressure off the prison service.

That has not happened to date, and that is what is wrong. I call on the Minister to examine this issue urgently because in a reply to a parliamentary question from me she stated that there is a problem, the process is being outsourced, there are delays and that it could be the third quarter of this year before the system is in place. We have said in a law, signed by the President, that this should not happen. We need a moratorium on committing people to prison for non-payment of fines only from today, provided that person makes an immediate application in the District Court or through the local Garda station when the warrant for his or her arrest and committal to prison is presented to him or her. The person is given an option to sign up, which many people do. We cannot allow this House to continue to be frustrated. It is appalling and unacceptable.

There are issues in regard to female prisoners, to whom Deputy Wallace referred, which need to be addressed. I understand that 85% of women who go to prison go for less than a year. We do not have an open prison for women which we have for men. I have raised many other issues with the Minister in parliamentary questions.

We need to continue our reforms. This is not a criticism of the Government but of the Courts Service of Ireland, which is not delivering as it should do. It knew from 2010 that this was an issue yet nothing has been done.

Last week a woman from Donegal was sent to prison for not paying her television licence fee. The television licence costs €160 but the daily cost of keeping a prisoner is exactly that amount. What is the point of sending a person to prison when we have decided it should not happen anymore? Will the Minister of State bring to the attention of his Department the need to act on this issue?

I would be happy to table a motion on a strategy to keep women out of prison because, as Deputy Wallace said, they are extremely vulnerable, many of them are poorly educated, they are often under severe family pressure, they are often the only family carer, they are young mothers and people who have great and serious difficulties. Putting them in prison when they do not need to go there and when there are other real and sensible alternatives does not make sense. I am not saying anybody should get away without paying his or her fine. The Dáil has said that people must pay fines but that they should not go to prison, which is the problem. It is an appalling waste of money and it is unacceptable that it continues in defiance of a vote of this Parliament and the signature of our President on that Bill.

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