Guess how many people have been jailed for not paying fines this year?

ALMOST 7,000 PEOPLE have been sent to prison so far this year for not paying fines, new figures have shown.

A total of 6,969 people had been committed to prison by the end of November for the offence, according to figures released by the Minister for Justice.

The figures are a minor increase on last year.

However the numbers confirm that there has been a dramatic surge in the last three years in the number of people being jailed for not paying fines.

There has been a 176 per cent increase in the number of people jailed for the offence since 2008, when 2,520 people were sent to jail for not paying fines.

Liam Herrick, the head of the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) which campaigns for reform of Irish penal policy, said that imprisoning people for non-payment was “redundant” and “wasteful”.

“At a time of scant resources, the redundant exercise of imprisoning people for non-payment of fines is extremely costly and wasteful in terms of Courts, Gardaí and prison resources,” said the IPRT Executive Director.

More importantly individuals are being committed to our overcrowded prisons in cases where judges have already determined that prison sentences are not appropriate.

Responding to the issue in the Dáil, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter defended the figures, saying that people in jail for fines make up a small fraction of the prison population at any one time.

On 30 November, 20 prisoners – 0.5 per cent of the total prison population – were in jail for not paying fines, Minister Shatter told the Dáil.

He also said that he intended to start a number of provisions contained in the Fines Act 2010 in the new year, such as allowing people to pay fines by instalments and substituting community service orders for fines.

“I expect that these measures, taken together, will all but eliminate the need to commit persons to prison for non-payment of fines,” Minister Shatter said.

However the failure to fully  implement the Fines Act, some 18 months after it became law, was criticised by Liam Herrick:

“The failure to follow up at administrative level to allow for the payment of fines by installment means that thousands continue to be jailed for non-payment of fines 18  months after the legislation was signed into law,” said Herrick.

The figures were revealed in a parliamentary question asked Michael Healy-Rae TD in the Dáil.

The figures also showed that the number of people jailed for not paying back debt has increased dramatically.

29 people were jailed for non-payment of civil debt up until the end of November this year – compared to just 5 people for the whole of last year.

The figures came from the Annual Reports of the Irish Prison Service.

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Outside the Dail tonight where Clare Daly’s ‘Savita’s Law’ bill was defeated.

There follows a complete list of TDs votes from tonight’s Bill for legislation on the X case. Contact your local representative via the email addresses we supply below if they have not represented you.

Gerry Adams (SF) voted Yes

James Bannon (FG) voted No

Seán Barrett (Ceann Comhairle) was absent/abstained

Tom Barry (FG) was absent/abstained

Richard Boyd Barrett (ULA) voted Yes

Pat Breen (FG) was absent/abstained

Thomas P. Broughan (Ind (Lab)) voted Yes

John Browne (FG) voted No

Richard Bruton (FG) was absent/abstained

Joan Burton (Lab) voted No

Ray Butler (FG) voted No

Jerry Buttimer (FG) voted No

Catherine Byrne (FG) was absent/abstained

Eric Byrne (Lab) voted No

Dara Calleary (FF) voted No

Ciarán Cannon (FG) was absent/abstained

Joe Carey (FG) voted No

Paudie Coffey (FG) voted No

Niall Collins (FF) voted No

Áine Collins (FG) voted No

Joan Collins (ULA) voted Yes

Michael Colreavy (SF) voted Yes

Michael Conaghan (Lab) voted No

Seán Conlan (FG) voted No

Paul J. Connaughton (FG) voted No

Ciara Conway (Lab) voted No

Noel Coonan (FG) voted No

Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (FG) voted No

Joe Costello (Lab) was absent/abstained

Simon Coveney (FG) voted No

Barry Cowen (FG) voted No

Michael Creed (FG) voted No

Lucinda Creighton (FG) was absent/abstained

Seán Crowe (SF) voted Yes

Jim Daly (FG) voted No

Clare Daly (ULA) voted Yes

John Deasy (FG) was absent/abstained

Jimmy Deenihan (FG) voted No

Pat Deering (FG) voted No

Regina Doherty (FG) voted No

Pearse Doherty (SF) voted Yes

Stephen S. Donnelly (Ind) voted Yes

Paschal Donohoe (FG) voted No

Timmy Dooley (FF) voted No

Robert Dowds (Lab) voted No

Andrew Doyle (FG) was absent/abstained

Bernard J. Durkan (FG) voted No

Dessie Ellis (SF) voted Yes

Damien English (FG) voted No

Alan Farrell (FG) voted No

Frank Feighan (FG) voted No

Martin Ferris (SF) voted Yes

Anne Ferris (Lab) was absent/abstained

Frances Fitzgerald (FG) voted No

Peter Fitzpatrick (FG) voted No

Charles Flanagan (FG) was absent/abstained

Terence Flanagan (FG) voted No

Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan (Ind) voted Yes

Sean Fleming (FF) was absent/abstained

Tom Fleming (Ind) was absent/abstained

Eamon Gilmore (Lab) voted No

Noel Grealish (Ind) was absent/abstained

Brendan Griffin (FG) voted No

John Halligan (Ind) voted Yes

Dominic Hannigan (Lab) was absent/abstained

Noel Harrington (FG) voted No

Simon Harris (FG) voted No

Brian Hayes (FG) voted No

Tom Hayes (FG) was absent/abstained

Seamus Healy (ULA) voted Yes

Michael Healy-Rae (Ind) voted No

Martin Heydon (FG) voted No

Joe Higgins (ULA) voted Yes

Phil Hogan (FG) was absent/abstained

Brendan Howlin (Lab) was absent/abstained

Heather Humphreys (FG) voted No

Kevin Humphreys (Lab) voted No

Derek Keating (FG) voted No

Colm Keaveney (Lab) was absent/abstained

Paul Kehoe (FG) voted No

Billy Kelleher (FF) voted No

Alan Kelly (Lab) voted No

Enda Kenny (FG) was absent/abstained

Seán Kenny (Lab) voted No

Seamus Kirk (FG) voted No

Michael P. Kitt (FF) voted No

Seán Kyne (FG) voted No

Anthony Lawlor (FG) voted No

Michael Lowry (Ind) voted No

Kathleen Lynch (Lab) voted No

Ciarán Lynch (Lab) voted No

John Lyons (Lab) voted No

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (SF) voted Yes

Eamonn Maloney (Lab) voted No

Micheál Martin (FF) was absent/abstained

Peter Mathews (FG) voted No

Michael McCarthy (Lab) was absent/abstained

Charlie McConalogue (FF) voted No

Mary Lou McDonald (SF) voted Yes

Shane McEntee (FG) voted No

Nicky McFadden (FG) voted No

Dinny McGinley (FG) voted No

Mattie McGrath (Ind) voted No

Finian McGrath (Ind) was absent/abstained

Michael McGrath (FG) voted No

John McGuinness (FF) was absent/abstained

Joe McHugh (FG) voted No

Sandra McLellan (SF) voted Yes

Tony McLoughlin (FG) voted No

Michael McNamara (Lab) voted No

Olivia Mitchell (FG) was absent/abstained

Mary Mitchell O’Connor (FG) voted No

Michael Moynihan (FF) voted No

Michelle Mulherin (FG) voted No

Dara Murphy (FG) voted No

Eoghan Murphy (FG) voted No

Catherine Murphy (Ind) voted Yes

Gerald Nash (Lab) voted No

Denis Naughten (Ind (FG)) was absent/abstained

Dan Neville (FG) voted No

Derek Nolan (Lab) was absent/abstained

Michael Noonan (FG) voted No

Patrick Nulty (Ind (Lab)) voted Yes

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (SF) voted Yes

Éamon Ó Cuív (FF) voted No

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (FF) voted No

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Lab) voted No

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (SF) voted Yes

Jonathan O’Brien (SF) voted Yes

Willie O’Dea (FF) was absent/abstained

Kieran O’Donnell (FG) voted No

Patrick O’Donovan (FG) voted No

Fergus O’Dowd (FG) was absent/abstained

John O’Mahony (FG) was absent/abstained

Joe O’Reilly (FG) voted No

Jan O’Sullivan (Lab) was absent/abstained

Maureen O’Sullivan (Ind) voted Yes

Willie Penrose (Ind (Lab)) was absent/abstained

John Perry (FG) was absent/abstained

Ann Phelan (Lab) voted No

John Paul Phelan (FG) voted No

Thomas Pringle (Ind) voted Yes

Ruairí Quinn (Lab) was absent/abstained

Pat Rabbitte (Lab) voted No

James Reilly (FG) voted No

Michael Ring (FG) voted No

Shane Ross (Ind) was absent/abstained

Brendan Ryan (Lab) voted No

Alan Shatter (FG) voted No

Sean Sherlock (Lab) was absent/abstained

Róisín Shortall (Ind (Lab)) voted No

Brendan Smith (FF) voted No

Arthur Spring (Lab) voted No

Emmet Stagg (Lab) voted No

Brian Stanley (SF) voted Yes

David Stanton (FG) voted No

Billy Timmins (FG) voted No

Peadar Tóibín (SF) was absent/abstained

Robert Troy (FG) was absent/abstained

Joanna Tuffy (Lab) voted No

Liam Twomey (FG) voted No

Leo Varadkar (FG) voted No

Jack Wall (Lab) voted No

Mick Wallace (Ind) voted Yes

Brian Walsh (FG) voted No

Alex White (Lab) voted N