Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Kelly, back to the House. I am impressed by the Minister and the Minister of State's attempt to try to introduce some humanity into this. We all appreciate the dreadful situation they inherited.
This concerns late payment charges of €30 and €60. Earlier, we discussed the imposition of these charges on people with very low incomes.

In respect of the late charges I think the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, was agreeing, can we distinguish between those who will not pay and those who genuinely cannot pay? Can the Minister think of some way in which it could be linked with community welfare officers but not to pursue people who are on low incomes trying to find €260, that we would be benign towards them as I think that is the inclination of both the Minister and the Minister of State? We do not want to clog up courts or legal proceedings against people who have suffered during the recession and for whom €260 is a very large amount of money. If we can deal in a considerate and kind way with those who have problems with late payment it might make the Bill slightly less unpalatable.