Number of people jailed over fines to reach record

Record numbers of people look set to be jailed this year for failing to pay fines, figures show.

There have been almost 4,500 committals in the first half of this year, compared to 7,500 for the whole of 2011, which is the highest annual figure to date.

The increasing number is despite the existence of legislation, passed in Jun 2010, which was supposed to cut the jailing of people for failing to pay fines.

The Irish Examiner understands the provisions will not be in place for at least another year.

A key part of the Fines Act 2010 — enabling the payment of fines by installment — has still not been implemented.

It is understood this is largely because the original legislation laying down the installment system is flawed and needs to be rectified.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter has said he hopes to have these provisions in place “during 2013” once he has introduced the Fines (Amendment) Bill.

Previously, the lack of funding to upgrade the courts’ computer system was said to be the main reason why the installment provision has not become operational. Previously both Mr Shatter and the Courts Service said the system would be in place some 12 months after the funding was made available. A total of €400,000 was made available in the last budget.

A Courts Service spokesman said work was under way on upgrading the computer system. “It won’t be completed until the exact nature of the legislative changes are known, but the running time has been lessened by the work already done.”

In response to questions by Sinn Féin’s justice spokesman Jonathan O’Brien, Mr Shatter said there had been 4,470 committals to prisons for non-payment of fines in 2012, up to Jun 30. Committals is not the same as people, as some people can receive multiple committals. Mr Shatter said there were 7,514 committals in 2011.

Information provided by the Prison Service shows the number of committals has jumped from 2,500 in 2008, to 4,806 in 2009 and to 6,683 in 2010.

Liam Herrick of the Irish Penal Reform Trust said: “The Government must act now to bring an immediate end to this practice through full implementation of the Fines Act 2010.” He said until then, all relevant agencies should work together and review how they operate to see whether there can be greater flexibility around the payment of fines.

“The estimated cost of upgrading the courts’ ICT system is €400,000. At a cost of imprisonment of around €200 per day, excluding Garda and Courts costs, the State has already spent well over €800,000 so far in 2012 on imprisoning people for non-payment of fines. It makes no sense at all.”