asked the Minister for Justice if, in view of the fact that a person (details supplied) in Dublin 24 who is married with four children and is unemployed cannot afford to pay a fine of £28 which was reduced to that amount as a result of a petition, he will now withdraw the demand entirely; and if he is aware that the person concerned was driving his employer's vehicle at the time and was not responsible for tax or insurance.
Written Answers. - Remission of Penalty.
718.
Limerick East): It would be contrary to long-established practice and, I am satisfied, inappropriate for me as Minister for Justice to deal at Question Time with individual petitions for the remission or mitigation of penalties. I would not, therefore, feel able either to treat a parliamentary question as a petition for such remission or to offer comments on why I did or did not accede to a petition that had already been made in the normal way.
As the terms of the question indicate, there has already in this case been a petition and because of all the circumstances I agreed to a migitation, which in fact was substantial. If, however, because of very exceptional circumstances a case exists for a further review, that case may be made in the normal way, preferably in writing, by the petitioner or somebody acting on his behalf.
In view of the suggestion in the last part of the question, which might perhaps lead to misunderstanding, I think it necessary to make it clear that I could not accept that an employee is not to be held responsible for driving an uninsured vehicle owned by his employer. That, however, is not to be taken as a comment on the particular case to which the question relates and in fact I understand that insurance was in force in that case.