Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

I could not agree more with Senator O'Donovan. He has made quite a valid point in saying we have insufficient time to debate such legislation. He speaks about putting some clear water between Second Stage and Committee Stage, while Senator White earlier asked for breathing space. This is exactly what we need in discussing this Bill and I cannot understand why the Leader has adopted a position where he is trying to ram it and other Bills through the House this week. There is more than enough time to deal with these matters and I cannot understand why that position is being adopted today.

I support the amendment so ably proposed by Senator Regan. Section 2 of the Bill proposes to amend section 6 of the Enforcement of Court Orders Act 1940. The aim of that appears to be to ensure a debtor will be obliged or strongly encouraged to attend a court. This is in direct contrast to the current situation, where it would appear that only one in five debtors take part in debt enforcement proceedings at all.

Section 2 contains a full revision of the existing section 6 of the Enforcement of Court Orders Act 1940 and also proposes to insert a new section 6A into the existing Act. It would be helpful if section 6(2) included a clear statement that the debtor may seek a variation of the existing instalment order at the hearing which he or she is required to attend. This is the position of FLAC, and it is very reasonable. The vast majority of debtors acknowledge their debt obligations but they should not face the additional pressure of imprisonment for failure to reply to an instalment order.

Nearly 2,000 people are sent to prison every year for failure to pay fines or debts, an alarming figure. There should be an enforcement order for these items, as is stated in the amendment. I look forward to the reply of the Minister of State and I hope he will accept the amendment proposed by my colleague. We all know there is chronic overcrowding in many prisons. There are 3,853 prisoners in custody compared to a bed capacity of 3,642. This represents an occupancy level of up to 106%, which is crazy, yet we are still sending people to prison who owe small debts. This is absolutely ludicrous.

I fully support Senator Regan's amendment. I look to the Minister of State's response on this proposal, which I hope will be favourable. Much thought has been put into it. Senator O'Donovan stated there are some very valid points in it. If it is not accepted in full, perhaps the Minister of State might propose an amendment himself on Report Stage to encompass some parts of this amendment.