Vol. 443 No. 8
61 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Justice, in the context of her reply to the Adjournment debate of 24 February 1994, in relation to the reduction of fines in the case of a person who had petitioned about a fine for the non-payment of a television licence, whether notice of the petition was given to An Post, who prosecuted the case, and to the judge who dealt with the matter in court.
Ministers for Justice, down the years, have refused to provide details concerning individual petition applications on the grounds that individual petitioners, who are availing themselves of a statutory right, are entitled to their privacy. On the Adjournment debate to which the Deputy refers I mentioned a case, in non-specific terms, simply for the purpose of illustrating the type of situation where clemency might be exercised on humanitarian grounds as an alternative to a person's committal to prison in default of payment of a fine.
I am not prepared to provide further details concerning this particular case but I can say that each petition is considered on its merits having regard to the grounds of the petition, offence involved and penalty imposed. Where I deem it necessary, I seek reports from various sources, including the prosecuting authority and the presiding judge. In practice, such reports would rarely be sought where circumstances of the kind I mentioned on the Adjournment debate were involved.
