John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 275: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his proposals, if any, to accept payment of fines handed down by the courts in instalments or by means of some other easy-payment system to be applied to those who have no means and simply cannot pay in full in the form of a single payment; the value of the fines outstanding and not paid to the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10340/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Section 14 of the Fines Act 2010, which was commenced from 1 January last, places an obligation on the court to take account of the defendant's financial circumstances before a fine is imposed. Section 15 of the Act, when commenced, will allow a person on whom a fine has been imposed to apply to the court to pay the fine by instalments. If the court is satisfied that to pay in full by the due date for payment would cause undue hardship, it can direct that payment be made by instalments over a period of one year and, in exceptional circumstances, over a two year period. This provision will apply to fines over €100. The Act is being commenced on a phased basis. It is intended to commence section 15 as soon as the necessary arrangements have been put in place by the Courts Service to facilitate its operation.

The Deputy will appreciate that the length of time an offender has to pay a fine can vary considerably and is determined amongst other things by the discretion of the judge and value of the fine. I am however informed that the Courts Service has made significant improvements to the fines collection process for court imposed fines. This includes timely and frequent issue of reminders, together with the provision of a convenient on-line payment facility.

The value of fines outstanding is assessed on a rolling 12 month period. For the 12 months to the end of December 2010, the total value of fines imposed was €43m (120,000 fines). The total value of fines collectable after adjusting for appeals or cancellations was €29m (92,000) of which €21m (68,000) were paid giving a collection rate of 71% based on value and 73% based on volume. This leaves approximately €8m (24,000) fines outstanding in the year ending 31 December 2010. This represents a significant improvement over an estimated collection rate of 50% in 2007 and in 2010 resulted in an estimated additional €8.0m in fines collected. Finally, the Programme for Government 2011 to 2016 contains a commitment to provide for attachment of earnings in relation to fines and I am developing proposals in this regard at present.