Fines Bill offers an alternative to prison

LEGISLATION TO allow for the payment of court fines on an instalment basis has been introduced in the Dáil. The Fines Bill is a “good example of law reform at its best”, said Minister of State John Moloney.

It would ensure that people “can afford to pay fines imposed without causing undue hardship to them or their dependants and providing alternatives to imprisonment where a fine is not paid by the due date for payment”.

Introducing the legislation Mr Moloney said it also addresses “the question of providing alternatives to imprisonment where offenders default on payment of fines”.

Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan said it was “important that the emphasis in the Bill should be on the capacity of a person to pay a fine rather than the intent of a person to pay a fine. The Bill will deal with people who cannot pay fines rather than people who will not pay them.”

He noted that it costs almost €100,000 a year to keep a prisoner in jail. Almost 2,000 people “are committed to prison in Ireland every year for non-payment of fines, civil debt and other non-violent offences”, at an average of 20 days each.

Sean Sherlock (Labour, Cork East) welcomed the legislation. He said “it is ludicrous that a significant number of people are incarcerated on the basis that they are unable to pay fines”. The Government “must take into account the fact that many people find it difficult to pay fines of less than even 100”, he warned.

Sinn Féin Justice spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh was disappointed, however, that “the Bill fails to reverse the current position whereby people continue to be detained in prisons simply as a result of the inability to repay a debt rather than a fine. The issue of a person’s indebtedness is not addressed in this Bill.”