Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

This amendment relates to section 40(9) which provides that if at any time after the making of the enforcement order it is reported to the High Court that any sum payable under the ICC order remains unpaid, the court may order the imprisonment of the person to whom the ICC order relates. The amendment is similar in intent to an amendment dealt with on Committee Stage in that the purpose is to ensure the provision will only apply in cases of sums payable under the ICC order, which appear to the High Court to be a sum which might be realised by the person to whom the order is directed.

As the Minister stated on Committee Stage, the amendment is unnecessary. Section 40(10) provides that no order under section 40(9) can be made unless the person to whom the ICC order relates has been given a reasonable opportunity to make representations to the court, and, therefore, the person is given the opportunity, if required, to outline to the court any facts which might affect his or her ability to pay a sum payable under an ICC order. Section 40(9) is modelled on section 19(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 1994, which deals with the general enforcement of confiscation orders and it is sufficiently flexible to deal with such issues.