Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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In this calendar year alone, 160,000 fixed fines are due for processing in the District Court because they have not been paid. In other words, 160,000 people are refusing to pay mandatory fines for speeding and other driving offences. Unless we change our driving habits, the death toll on our roads will continue to rise. The Government can take absolutely no satisfaction from today's report of a European survey showing that Ireland is 20th out of 29 countries in terms of tackling the issue of deaths on the roads. Luxembourg has achieved a reduction of 47% in its rate of road deaths since 2001, while the figure for France is 42%. Ireland, however, has achieved a reduction of only 10%. Any reduction is welcome but this is not good enough.

The Government is failing utterly to meet its target in this regard and is falling behind its European neighbours. Indicative of this is the weakness at the heart of Government legislation which means that 50% to 60% of people upon whom a fixed penalty is imposed do not pay up within either 28 or 56 days. This means the Garda had no choice but to issue 160,000 District Court summonses to fine defaulters throughout the State this year, clogging the court system in the process. The Courts Service has brought this issue to the fore and has put forward a solution that will require the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to take legislative action. He will have to take tough decisions to reduce the incidence of death on our roads.

Next year there may be close to 250,000 defaulters because the Minister is increasing the capacity of the system to issue fixed penalty fines. The operation of speed cameras will be privatised and there will be more of them. More people will be caught and penalised and many of them will fail to pay the fine. Approximately one quarter of the business of the District Court is taken up with processing these fines. It will require modern technology and a Minister with initiative to deal with this issue. We on this side of the House will be pleased to debate the issues with him and will fully support him in taking the necessary actions.

The Courts Service has suggested that instead of the mandatory default court system, fines should be collected by a debt agency, which should also be notified when motorists' car tax comes up for renewal. Another important issue highlighted by the Courts Service is the situation where of those people who go to court and are found guilty, a significant but unknown number do not bring their driving licence to court. Even though they receive a fine, therefore, their licence is not endorsed and they do not receive penalty points. The entire system is faulty and determined and effective action is required to remedy it.

Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister conveys his thanks to Deputy O'Dowd for raising this important matter. He is very much aware of the additional strain this is placing on the courts system. The current position in regard to the collection of fines has been under examination by senior officials of his Department for some time. The focus of these efforts has been to increase payment compliance on first issue of a fixed charge summons and thus reduce the number of these offences that subsequently require listing before the courts due to non-payment.

In April of last year, 31 new offences were categorised as fixed charge penalties. Additionally, legislation was introduced to increase incrementally the number of penalty points on conviction and increase the amount of the fine if not paid after 28 days. This has had an effect in reducing the number of these cases which would otherwise have found their way before the courts.

In addition to these legislative changes, a pilot study was commissioned by departmental officials to examine the feasibility of, as the Deputy suggests, handing over the collection of such fixed charge penalties to an external credit management agency. As part of this pilot project, more than 5,000 cases going back over several years were selected, with a value in the region of €2 million. These were passed over to an external credit management agency to effect payment.

The process involved a letter cycle consisting of three letters escalating in tone and severity over a seven week period from the date the account was received for collection. These were sent to each of the 5,000 defaulters. In between letters, the agency attempted to obtain contact telephone numbers for the debtors; this was done between letters one and three of the collection cycle. Where these contact details were obtained, the defaulters were contacted and reminded of their obligations. Any additional defaulter information gleaned by the agency as a result of the above activities was recorded in an on-line database. The preliminary results of this pilot study were quite encouraging, with over 22% of cases being cleared up.

The Minister would also like to inform the Deputy that officials are currently finalising their assessment of the pilot study with a view to establishing its introduction on a wider footing. This assessment has not yet been fully completed but legal issues as well as procurement matters have emerged as areas requiring careful consideration. Despite this, the Minister is of the opinion that there are very good grounds for introducing this system on a wider footing.

Notwithstanding the issues raised by the Deputy, the Minister remains firmly of the view that the fixed-penalty system continues to have great merit in the tackling of the issues being faced by the courts and will increasingly have an impact in reducing the number of such cases appearing before the courts in future.