5,000 jailed for debt or failing to pay fines

MORE than 5,000 mostly poor people have been locked up in prison for non-payment of fines or civil debt since the Government promised to overhaul the practice and introduce a fairer system.

Over 2,000 have been committed in the two years since the present Minister for Justice welcomed a report dealing with the jailing of fine defaulters and again promised that jail should be a last resort.

As more than 40 people continue to be jailed every single day, the Department of Justice admitted yesterday it has no timetable for the introduction of a bill that would allow cash-strapped defaulters, mostly social welfare recipients, to avoid jail through paying by instalment and by linking fines with ability to pay.