Written answers

Wednesday, 18 December 2019

Department of Justice and Equality

Fines Data

Photo of Noel GrealishNoel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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201. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons that failed to pay fines imposed by the courts since the commencement of the Fines (Payment and Recovery) Act 2014; the number that had an attachment order, a recovery order or community service order made against them as a result; the number of persons imprisoned for failure to pay such fines by year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53568/19]

Photo of Charles FlanaganCharles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service, which is independent in exercising its functions, and this includes the provision of information on the courts system.

I have requested information from the Courts Service in relation to this matter and the Courts Service has stated it will contact the Deputy directly as soon as the information is to hand.

Photo of Noel GrealishNoel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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202. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the value and number of unpaid fines in each of the years 2013 to 2018 and to date in 2019; the value and number of fines imposed by the courts in each of the years; the steps being taken to recover unpaid fines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53569/19]

Photo of Charles FlanaganCharles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service, which is independent in exercising its functions, and this includes the provision of information on the courts system.

I have requested information from the Courts Service in relation to this matter and the Courts Service has stated it will contact the Deputy directly as soon as the information is to hand.

Photo of Noel GrealishNoel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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203. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the offence categories in respect of which fines were imposed by the courts in each of the years 2016 to 2018 and to date in 2019; the offence categories in respect of which fines were imposed but were not paid in the same period by the number and value in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53570/19]

Photo of Charles FlanaganCharles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service, which is independent in exercising its functions, which include the provision of information on the courts system.  In order to be of assistance to the Deputy, however, I have had enquiries made with the Courts Service.

On foot of those enquiries, I have been informed that regrettably courts statistics are not compiled in such a way as to provide the particular information sought by the Deputy. The Court Services have indicated that there are thousands of offence categories in respect of which fines can be imposed by the court.  The information sought could only be retrieved by way of a manual examination of each individual court record.  As I am sure the Deputy will appreciate, such a lengthy process would require the expenditure of a disproportionate amount of the Courts Service's resources and it is therefore not possible to provide the specific information sought.However, a wide range of statistics are published in the annual reports of the Courts Service that may be of assistance to the Deputy.

A link to the page on the Courts Service website where all of these reports can be accessed is as follows:

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