Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The idea of somebody going to prison is a last option. We would want to make every effort to ensure that does not arise. If there are penalty fines, efforts should be made to collect those funds and impose the penalty. Going back and forth in the courts must take up a lot of time and effort for the Courts Service, clogging up other cases it wants to deal with. Is there any indication of how often they go around and the amount of time lost to that? Are fines written off after some time? Are those trying to stave it off successful? How much was written off? Is there a figure for last year or the year before? How much of these fines were written off?

See this speech in context