Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join colleagues in voicing my concern regarding the jailing of individuals for their failure to pay the television licence fee. The reality is that significant numbers of people cannot afford to do so and imprisonment is certainly not the answer in these cases. Senator John Kelly suggested an amendment to the Fines Act, which seems a logical proposal. Will the Leader invite the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, to the House to address this issue as part of a broader debate on prison sentencing? This is a country in which people are being sent to prison for not paying their television licence fee, while, on the other hand, bankers and the like who destroyed the economy and the country are walking the streets without any obvious sign of a change in their lifestyle. I read recently about an interesting initiative in France, whereby a tax of between 1% to 4% had been imposed on smartphones and tablet devices, a small amount relative to their cost. The fund will be specifically used to finance a broad range of arts initiatives. A tax on text messages has been suggested here, which is something I would welcome. Moneys raised by such a levy could be very usefully diverted to such areas as suicide prevention and alcohol abuse awareness measures. It is a novel idea from which we could learn a great deal. I hope we can debate it with the Minister in due course.