2,325 jailed for non-payment of fines in three months

Large numbers of people are still being committed to jail for the non-payment of fines in spite of the new legislation aimed at dramatically reducing the numbers.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has confirmed that, in the first three months of this year, 2,325 people have been committed to jail for the non-payment of fines.

The rate of people being committed to prison for the non-payment of fines this year is only marginally slower than 2015, when 9,883 people were jailed across the 12 month period.