Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Sections 20 and 22 provide that it is an offence to provide false or misleading information, for example in a submission to a planning authority and to forge or alter documents, or a certificate of discharge. Committing such an offence can lead to a class A fine or imprisonment, or both.

Amendment No. 16 seeks to insert a new subsection to section 20, requiring that any fine resulting from that section, for example, where a person is fined on conviction of providing false or misleading evidence, shall be allocated for the purpose of housing provision in the local authority in which the site of where the fine was accrued is situated.

Similarly amendment No. 17 seeks to insert a new subsection to section 22, requiring that any fine resulting from that section, for example, where a person who is fined on conviction of issuing forged or altered documentation in relation to the levy, shall be allocated for the purpose of housing provision in the local authority. The payment of any class A fine that a person may be liable under either of these sections, is a matter for the courts and is governed by the fines Act 2010. Therefore it is not appropriate for this Bill to amend the manner in which court fines are administered under different legislation and it is for that reason I oppose amendments Nos .16 and 17.