Almost 2,000 offenders a year could avoid imprisonment under new fines defaulter legislation published by the Government yesterday. The move will free up prison spaces for serious criminals.
Under the Fines Bill many financial penalties will be greatly increased, from €100 to €4,000 in some rare cases. The courts will be given new powers to investigate a defendant's financial background before deciding on the amount they should be fined.
Offenders on whom the courts impose financial sanctions will, for the first time, be given the option of paying the fine in weekly or monthly instalments. Fines must be paid in a lump sum under the current system.
This has resulted in many offenders who are unable to pay, mostly the unemployed, being sent to prison as an alternative.
It is envisaged that under the new legislation few people would be unable to pay the instalments.
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said the legislation published yesterday was the first phase in reforming the fines system. Work was ongoing in the department on the enforcement of fines Bill, he said.
This will provide for the compulsory payment of a fine from a person's earnings, known as the attachment of earnings. This measure aims to end imprisonment as far as practicable for non-payment of fines.
Over the last four years an average of 1,800 people a year have been committed to prison for failing to pay fines and debts.
The move to instalments will alleviate overcrowding in the prison system and provide beds for an anticipated increase in the number of serious offenders that are expected to be sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.
Overcrowding is now chronic in many prisons. The number of life sentence prisoners has more than doubled in the last 15 years as murder rates continue to rise.
Existing mandatory sentencing regimes are being strengthened and new mandatory sentences for other offences have just been introduced. All of these factors will result in more people being imprisoned for longer periods in the future, increasing pressure further on prison spaces.
Meanwhile, a new fines classification system for the District Court is also provided for in the new legislation. The classes range from a "class E fine" up to a "class A fine". A class E fine means a fine not exceeding €100. This ceiling rises to €5,000 in the District Court for a class A fine.
Under the new legislation, fines will be index-linked. This will mean that all offences will carry a penalty equal to what legislators intended when the relevant legislation was framed or last updated. In effect, some offences that date back almost 100 years and carry fines of €100 will rise to €4,000 when index-linked and when inflation over the century is taken into account. However, sources said the legislation governing most offences has been updated in the modern era meaning greatly increased fines will be "few and far between".
