Minister Shatter publishes Fines (Payment and Recovery) Bill 2013

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Alan Shatter TD has today published the Fines (Payment and Recovery) Bill 2013. The Bill represents a major reform of the fine payment and recovery system in Ireland and provides for the payment of fines by installment and attachment of earnings.

Announcing the publication of the Bill, Minister Shatter said “This
Government is committed to keeping the numbers of people committed to prison for the non-payment of fines to the absolute minimum. We are also determined to ensure court decisions are respected and complied with. Allowing everyone to pay a fine by installment and introducing attachment of earnings are important new reforms to the fine collection system which will lead to improved collection rates for fines.

“Last year, some 8,300 people were sent to prison for the non-payment of fines. Those people comprised the vast majority of those sentenced to short sentences by our courts and committed to our prisons in 2012. These new measures provided for in the Fines Bill 2013, combined with the requirement that judges must take a person’s financial circumstances into account when setting a fine, should result in a reduction in the number of people committed to prison.

“When this Bill is enacted, it will be easier for people to pay a fine and
where they fail to do so, there will be sufficient alternatives available
to the courts to all but eliminate the need to commit anyone to prison for the non-payment of fines. I am pleased that the Government has approved the publication of this important legislation and I look forward to its early enactment.”

Once the Fines (Payment and Recovery) Bill 2013 is in force, every person on whom a fine is imposed will be able to opt to pay the fine by
instalments over 12 months. Where a person fails to pay a fine in full,
including by instalments, he or she will be required to return to court
and, depending on their circumstances, the court will make either an
attachment of earnings order (directing the person’s employer to deduct the fine from the person’s earnings), a recovery order (appointing a receiver to recover assets to the value of the fine) or a community service order. The introduction of attachment of earnings for unpaid fines is a commitment in the Programme for Government and is likely to be applied in most cases where a fine defaulter is in employment or in receipt of an occupational pension.

The Bill also contains a number of administrative changes that will improve the courts’ capacity to ensure that fines are paid.

Minister Shatter hopes that it will be possible to have the Bill enacted
before the end of the year and that its provisions can become operational in 2014.