Results 3,141-3,160 of 16,849 for speaker:Dermot Ahern

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: These are purely drafting amendments that for consistency in sections 4 to 8 insert the word "specified" after the word "number" in two places in subsections (2) and (3) of sections 4 to 8. For example, where it now states "Where an enactment enacted during a period specified in column (2) of the Table opposite, a particular reference number in column (1)", the revised wording will be "Where...

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: This is just a drafting amendment that speaks for itself.

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: I have some sympathy with the argument on the use of secondary legislation. However, the Supreme Court primarily found fault with the making of legislation, as such, by means of secondary legislation because in some Departments there was a practice whereby Acts were changed by secondary legislation rather than by having to go through the rigours of primary legislation. This legislation...

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: As I stated, I have some sympathy with the views expressed in this respect. I assure the House that the Attorney General and his office have spent a bit of time on this provision. They would not normally use it, but the Attorney General is adamant that, in the context of this ground-breaking legislation, there needs to be a contingency plan. As to examining the formulation, I can revert to...

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: In effect, Senator Bacik anticipated what I was going to say. This is not the Bill in which to deal with this matter. I am not sure if I can provide a commitment to consider it in the context of other legislation because it could possibly interfere with the data collection system, the Irish sentencing information system, ISIS, being developed by the Judiciary with the aid of the Courts...

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: This proposal was the subject of significant discussion in the other House and I undertook to re-examine it. However, the view of the drafters of amendment No. 33 is that paragraphs (c), (d) and (e) of section 12 significantly deal with the issue of financial circumstances and that what is being proposed would not add to it in any way. As for amendment No. 34, section 12 (b) is drafted in...

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: This is a standard provision found in legislation where provision is made for a notification or other document to be served on or given to a person. A recent example of such a provision can be found in section 9 of the Charities Act 2009. An example of where such a notification is required under this Bill may be found in section 15(2), under which the Courts Service must notify the receiver...

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: I am unsure of the point being raised by the Senator. Section 13(3) states: A court may, in making a determination under subsection (2), impose a fine that is greater than, less than or equal to the otherwise appropriate fine having regard to the purpose of this section but in any case a court shall not impose a fine that is ... greater than the maximum fine ... or ... less than the minimum...

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: I do not believe it would be in exceptional circumstances because the section is endeavouring to deal with people who do not have the capacity to pay fines. The legislation is placing an onus on the court to take into account their financial circumstances. However, if, from the court's point of view, the financial circumstances of the person are not an issue, the court should be free to...

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: I will have another look at it but the idea behind this section was to put into practice the principle of equality of impact. We were endeavouring in circumstances where people could afford to pay to provide that the normal fine, as determined by the judge, would be struck but in circumstances where there would be a financial difficulty that a lesser sum than what would be regarded as the...

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: I will look at this again for Report Stage. We are not due to take Report Stage today.

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: This is a Bill I would like to get on the Statute Book sooner rather than later.

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: A court when directing that a fine be paid by instalments will specify the time during which the instalments will be paid. It can be for 12 months or a shorter period from the time the fine will otherwise have been due to be paid. This is called due date of payment. The purpose of the official amendment is to ensure that in accordance with normal practice the time during which the fine must...

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: This provides for payment of fines by way of instalments. Subsection (1) permits an offender to make an application to the court that imposed the fine to use that method of payment. Subsection (7) obliges the court to inform the offender of his or her right to make such an application. It is the intention that the application can be made at a time after the court hearing at which the fine...

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: These are essentially drafting amendments. The drafter has decided that subsection (6) of section 14 while correct does not fit comfortably in section 14. Its purpose is to establish the appropriate period of imprisonment when a fine has been partially paid by instalments. This is already achieved in section 17 at the inserted section 2A(3) into the Courts (No. 2) Act 1986 in relation to...

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: If one could pay fines of under €100 by instalments, it would lead to a substantial workload on the Courts Service. A conservative estimate suggests 10,000 such successful applications annually. Less than 10% of the total number of fines imposed could realistically lead to an additional 100,000 transactions. When one looks at the type of fines imposed in the District Courts, 70% relate to...

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: To what could it be confined?

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Road traffic offences.

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: We looked at this very carefully and wanted to be fair to people. Equally, we did not want to overburden the system with this new provision which has been welcomed by everyone. It is not unreasonable to expect somebody fined a sum of up to €100 to pay it in one go given that 70% of all fines are for road traffic offences. While Senator Regan's proposal to restrict this to non-road traffic...

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Dermot Ahern: I do not believe the provision would be operated as described. Judges would not specifically fine someone €101 to allow him or her to pay in instalments when they have the ability to take into account the person's financial circumstances and impose a fine of a lesser amount. The scenario presented by the Senator does not make sense.