Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

This relates to the name and shame section. Amendment No. 65 will ensure that if a person pays the fine after the due date for payment but before his or her name is published, the name and address will not be published. In the case of publication on the Internet, amendment No. 66 will oblige the Courts Service to erase the reference to the default in any particular case after eight weeks or if and when the fine has been paid, whichever is sooner. For example, as soon as an offender has failed to pay by the due date, his or her name could be published as a fine defaulter. However, a period of approximately eight weeks will elapse before the receiver is sent notification of the default from the Courts Service. During that period more efforts will be made to have the fine paid through a series of reminders. If the offender pays within the eight weeks, his or her name will at that point be removed from the list and if he or she does not pay, the name and address will be removed in any case after eight weeks.