Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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127. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the reason it has taken over a year for the fines amendment Act to be implemented; her views on the confirmation from the Prison Service of another annual increase in prison committals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20177/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Fines (Payment and Recovery) Act 2014 represents a very significant change in the way justice is administered by the courts. As well as introducing an option for persons to pay fines by instalment, there are also changes in the way those who fail to pay fines are dealt with, as the Act provides a range of options available to judges including recovery orders, attachment of earnings, community service and ultimately imprisonment. These changes will have significant implications for agencies across the Justice sector, including the Courts and the Courts Service, An Garda Síochána, the Probation Service and the Irish Prison Service.

The changes in processes and procedures which are required to implement the new system have to be carefully developed to ensure that the new system operates effectively and efficiently from the beginning.

Work is ongoing in preparing for the implementation of the Act. The area most directly affected by the changes is the Courts and the Courts Service is working on a number of developments which will ensure that the implementation of the legislation and the new procedures which will operate under it are as efficient as possible.

There are major changes in information technology required to ensure that the instalment payment system operates effectively and that the necessary accounting procedures are in place for the recording of payments. Changes are also required in the way that information is transferred between the Courts Service and An Garda Síochána to ensure that both organisations have fully up to date information on the cases and their current status.

The introduction of payment by instalment will increase the overall workload of processing fine payments. The Courts Service is introducing new arrangements for the payment of fines which will allow payments to be made in a range of outlets across the country, and not just through Courts Service offices. A procurement process is currently underway and contract negotiations with the preferred bidder are ongoing. The service provider will have to be in place before the new system can be fully implemented. The service provider's IT system will have to link in to the Courts Service IT system.

Good progress in being made in the preparatory work. It is expected that all the preparations for the new system will be completed by the third quarter of this year. It is important that these preparations are done correctly to ensure that the significant changes being implemented in the fines system as a result of this legislation are implemented smoothly and effectively from the start.

As I stated when publishing the Annual Report for 2014 of the Irish Prison Service on 18 May 2015, despite a small increase of 2.7% in the total committals to prison the overall daily average number of prisoners in custody has continued to fall. The overall daily average number of prisoners in custody in 2014 was 3,915 compared to 4,158 in 2013, a decrease of 5.8%.

There were 16,155 committals to prison in 2014 compared to 15,735 in 2013. The increase is attributed to an 8% increase in the numbers committed on sentences of less than 3 months specifically those committed for the non-payment of a court ordered fine. I am advised by the Irish Prison Service that on 19 May 2015 six persons or (0.2%) of the prison population of 3,739 were in custody for non-payment of a court ordered fine.

The aim of the Fines (Payments and Recovery) Act is to eliminate, in so far as possible, the option of imprisonment as a sanction for fine default. Once the significant changes required to the fines system are implemented, it is expected that we will see a reduction in the number of committals to prison on short sentences.