Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality when he proposes to provide for the commencement of the Section 15 the Fines Act 2000 dealing with the payment of fines by instalments; his plans to deduct fines by instalments from State payments such as social welfare or wages made to a convicted person; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54357/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Government recently approved the drafting of the Fines (Amendment) Bill 2012, the Scheme of which is available on my Department's website (www.justice.ie). The Scheme provides, inter alia, for the introduction of attachment of earnings to recover unpaid fines from a person's earnings. The Scheme also recasts a number of the key provisions in the Fines Act 2010, including those relating to the payment of fines by instalments (section 15). Whereas under the 2010 Act, a person had to apply to the court to be permitted to pay a fine by instalments, the Scheme provides that this will become an automatic right. Given this significant change to the nature and scope of the instalment provisions in the Act, it is not my intention to commence section 15 until after it has been amended. I hope that it will be possible to enact the Fines (Amendment) Bill during 2013.