Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill which will make a long-sought change from the use of imprisonment for the failure to pay debts. The Law Reform Commission has long asked for a move away from the punitive to a more coercive approach to debt settlement which the Bill introduces through the attachment of earnings mechanism and deductions from social welfare payments. The Bill is being introduced in the context of water charges and the campaign to resist them and it is necessary. While opposing a charge or tax by voting or campaigning against it is a perfectly legitimate activity, a campaign which seeks to encourage people not to pay a tax or charge is not legitimate. Encouraging them to break the law, however much we might resent that law, is never acceptable.

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