Sir, – Two-thirds of court-imposed fines are unpaid (News, July 21st). The Government is examining how to improve the operation of the system with a "high-level group" looking at the United Kingdom where private collection companies have been hired to secure payment.
I have a modest proposal. Stand down the high-level group. Forget about privatisation. Hand over collection to Revenue, one of the most efficient and effective organisations in Ireland. And while we’re at it, do the same to deal with widespread TV licence fee evasion.
Readers will recall that we showed a similar aversion to paying the local property tax. The Revenue were given the gig and compliance rates soared to about 95 per cent. So let’s take the tried-and-tested approach to enforcing collection of court fines and of TV licence fees. – Yours, etc,
PAT O’BRIEN,
Mooncoin,
Co Kilkenny.