Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

The amendment proposes that the monetary amounts of fines for penalties under the Air Pollution Act be further increased beyond the significant increases that I have already announced. Paragraph (a) refers to fines on summary conviction and proposes that a larger increase than that proposed by the Government be introduced. This is not necessary as I propose to align them with the 2010 Fines Act, which will allow them to be updated centrally to ensure they remain effective. This will allow the Minister for Justice and Equality to revise them on a regular basis, if necessary.

There are bands and categories associated with the fines under that Act, which came into force on 4 January 2011. Class A is a maximum fine of €5,000, class B is a maximum fine of €4,000, class C is a maximum fine of €2,500, class D a maximum fine of €1,000 and class E a maximum fine of €500. The improved system of fines is a more practical way of dealing with the issue centrally by the Minister for Justice and Equality.

Paragraph (b) refers to the fine for conviction on indictment and proposes a larger increase than what I propose. It proposes an increase of €800,000 from £10,000 with a proportionate increase in the daily fine for a continuing offence to €8,000 rather than €5,000. The increase I propose from £10,000 to €500,000 has been selected to ensure consistency with comparable amounts in all environmental legislation. Therefore I do not propose to accept the amendment.