Derek McDowell (Labour)

The system makes sure the Government stays in control of the Exchequer because it is responsible for it.

I do not agree with Senator Lydon. If a person is found acting in a drunk and disorderly way, for example urinating on the street, drinking and creating mayhem, two things can happen. The garda can either tell him to go home or summons him to court. Under the current system, in three or four months the person will be brought before the courts and, if he is found guilty, he will have a criminal record. Under this Bill, a garda can catch a young man and send him a written notice stating he was caught urinating in the middle of, say, Main Street, Ballybofey. If he pays, for example, €150 there will be no prosecution and I believe that will teach many people a hard lesson. It is preferable to bringing them before a district judge, in full view of journalists, to put manners on them. I appreciate Senator Lydon's point that bullying could arise in the form of repeated harassment, but to bring a person before the District Court, to humiliate him before that community and ruin his job prospects in the locality and to plaster his name all over the Donegal Democrat might be just as tough.