Patrick Nulty (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 148: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of committals to prison for non-payment of fines and non-payment of debt in 2011; if he will provide comparative figures for the previous three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11622/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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A breakdown of the number of committals imprisoned for non-payment of fines and non-payment of debt for each of the years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 is set out in the following table.

* The 2011 figures are provisional pending the publication of the Irish Prison Service Annual Report.

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, on 28 February, 2012, there were 27 (26 Fines, 1 Debtor) persons or 0.63 percent of the numbers in prison custody that fell into this category. As I explained recently in response to a separate Parliamentary Question, the Fines Act 2010 includes a number of provisions designed to minimise the level of fine default and where it does occur, to ensure, as far as possible, that fine defaulters are not committed to prison. In particular, under Section 14 of the Act, the court must consider the financial circumstances of the person before the amount of the fine is determined. There are also provisions in the Act, that I intend to commence in 2012, allowing for the payment of fines by instalments; the appointment of receivers to recover outstanding fines (or property to the value of those fines); and the substitution of community service orders for fines, where they remain unpaid after the receiver has completed his or her work.

I am also committed to pursuing alternatives to custody. The Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) Act 2011 commenced on 1 October last and requires judges when considering imposing a sentence of imprisonment of 12 months or less to first consider the appropriateness of community service as an alternative to imprisonment. I expect that these measures, taken together, will all but eliminate the need to commit persons to prison for non-payment of fines.