Vol. 396 No. 3
76 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Justice whether he will consider changing the regulation regarding the payment of fines in order to enable members of the gardaí and District Court clerks to accept in certain circumstances the payment of fines by instalment.
As part of an overall review of the penalty collection system my Department have been considering the merits of allowing the payment of fines by instalment, as well as other changes designed to improve fine collection. No final decisions have yet been made but it should be borne in mind that the system required to operate instalment payments is costly and would give rise to difficulties as regards financial control. I am also aware that such a system has been tried in other administrations and has not been found to be fully satisfactory.
The change over suggested by the Deputy would require legislation rather than a modification of a procedural regulation.
