Fine Gael has published a Bill proposing an attachment of earnings system for fine defaulters instead of imprisonment. Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Correspondent, reports.
The party's spokesman on justice, Mr Jim O'Keeffe, called on the Minister for Justice to support the Bill, called the Enforcement of Court Orders Bill 2004.
"Approximately €3.7 million a year is spent on keeping defaulters in prison," he said. "Each year more than 1,000 people are sent to prison for failing to pay fines or to pay debts at an average cost of €1,575 per week to house a prisoner. But when the debtor is freed from jail, the debt often remains unpaid."
He said that the current system, according to the last official figures from the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, cost the Exchequer €6.3 million in unpaid fines in 1998. This would be €10 million today. Almost half of all fines imposed in Dublin are not recovered.
"Fine Gael's Bill aims to create a win-win situation for both the State and the individuals involved," Mr O'Keeffe said.
"It will make it easier for people to discharge their debt instead of being sent to jail. The Exchequer benefits from the fines received, plus there is a significant saving to the Prison Services that will no longer have to foot the bill for unnecessary custodial sentences."
He added that the Bill provided a legislative basis to allow those who have difficulty paying fines the opportunity to pay by instalments. It also ensured that those who refused to pay would, over a period of time, have the amount deducted directly from their wage or Social Welfare payment.
The Fine Gael Bill is the latest of a number of proposals to reform the fines system, though previous proposals have concentrated on indexation and ability to pay.
In August 2002 the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, promised a review of the law relating to the non-payment of fines in the light of a report showing that the majority of fine defaulters were unemployed or not in the labour force due to disability.
"Officials will now examine the research with a view to drawing up whatever proposals may be necessary for inclusion in the proposed Enforcement of Fines Bill," he said then.
The previous month a report from the Law Reform Commission proposed a system for the indexation of fines.