Debt collection legislation - Farce continues

THE Government yesterday produced legislation to allow for unpaid utility bills to be taken from welfare payments or wages. Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald produced the Civil Debt bill, allowing for attachment orders for debts over €500 but less than €4,000.

This legislation was provoked by the expensive farce of jailing people for less than a day for non-payment of moderate fines. The anticipated refusal to pay water charges and the prospect of tens of thousands of people clogging up our courts was also influential. The legislation will not apply to debt owed to a financial institution and abolishes the prospect of jail for non-payment of debts.

There is a weakness in the legislation though. It cannot be applied until a particular debt reaches €500. That means that some people — a couple living in a house with a sceptic tank say — can ignore Irish Water bills for up to six years before the procedure kicks in. This seems inordinate latitude and tragically sustains the atmosphere of farce that has bedevilled the Irish Water project since its inception.