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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.
via Guess how many people have been jailed for not paying fines this year?.
via Guess how many people have been jailed for not paying fines this year?.
Every Woman Matters
via Broadsheet.ie.
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