Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 608: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of citizens who have been imprisoned in each of the 12 months of 2008 for having failed, for whatever reason, to meet loan repayments to banks and other financial institutions, including credit unions; the average term imposed on all those placed in places of detention for said offences over the same 12-month period; the number of weeks served by all said detainees during 2008; the cost per week of each placement; the cost of all said detentions throughout 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1012/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am currently preparing a Fines Bill and I intend to obtain Government approval for it's publication in the near future. The Bill will include provisions dealing with the indexation of fines, payment of fines by instalment, equality of impact of fines imposed by the courts and the powers of the courts where a person does not pay a fines by its due date for payment.

I am advised by the Irish Prison Service that a total of 276 citizens were imprisoned in 2008 for debtor offences. Debtor offences comprise of failure to meet loan repayments to banks and other financial institutions, including credit unions, but also include failure to pay maintenance debt, hire purchase agreements or creditor loans. These 276 citizens were responsible for 306 debt offences as some had been imprisoned on more than one occasion for a debt offence in 2008. The breakdown per month is set out in the table below.

The average length of sentence imposed on each offence was 27 days. The average length of sentence served was 20 days. Please note some persons paid their debt while in prison which would automatically release them from their sentence. The cost of all said detentions for 2008 is not yet available until completion of the Appropriation Accounts later this year. I can advise the Deputy that the number of such persons held in custody at any one time is a tiny fraction of the overall prisoner population. To illustrate this point, figures relating to 22 January, 2009 indicate that less than 0.6 percent of the numbers in prison custody fell into this category.