Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail)

I read a very disturbing report today, which should be a source of great concern to all reasonable people. I refer to the case of the young pregnant woman in Limerick who was arrested and put in prison because she owed a few hundred euro as a result of a road tax court case. I am told that within the prison she was highly traumatised, was acting uncontrollably and was within days of giving birth. She was taken to hospital where she gave birth and then disappeared from the hospital. In this case common sense and compassion should have been used. I could not imagine this happening in the most repressive regimes in the world.

We need to ascertain how a young woman could be placed in prison for not having paid €200 in road tax. People who are in debt to the State for millions of euro are walking the streets and constantly thumb their noses at the courts, yet this woman with no one to defend her was placed in that position. It is unacceptable because, as legislators, in some way this eventually impacts on us as well. It is not a matter of suggesting that people should not be held accountable. However, for heaven's sake, surely common sense and compassion should have been employed in this case.