Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I indicated yesterday that I would consider this and I wish to clarify a point on which I may have given the wrong impression to the House regarding the fines Bill that will come before the House. This fixed charge does not relate to that Bill which will refer to fines in court, whereas this is an administrative sanction or fixed charge.

Rather than have the Minister increase the fines on 1 January each year, or at another particular time as the Senator recommends, and link it to some index, we will monitor the situation. If the Minister of the day finds it necessary he or she will introduce a regulation to increase the fine. It would not be appropriate to provide in primary legislation for the fixed charge under section 5 to be index-linked to the inflation rate set by the European Central Bank and automatically updated in January each year after coming into force. The Minister can keep the level of fixed charge under review and vary it in the future when he or she deems it appropriate to do so.