Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 5 Dec 2000

Vol. 527 No. 3

Written Answers. - Prisoner Statistics.

Ruairí Quinn

Question:

345 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of offenders who were committed to prison in the latest year for which statistics are available on account of the non-payment of a fine; the periods of committal; and the proportion of these cases in which the fine was paid subsequent to committal to prison. [28597/00]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

The latest figures in this respect which follow relate to 1994, 1995 and 1996. While the corresponding figures for later years are not available, as yet, steps are under way to ensure that statistics of the kind sought will become available on a more up-to-date basis in the future.

A new £6 million information technology programme for the Prisons Service is well advanced. As part of the programme a comprehensive prisoner records database is in the process of being installed across the Prison Service. This programme will address the lack of up-to-date information about prisoners, provide management with necessary information and enable the automation of many existing functions. Prisoner related information generally will be much more easily accessible and up to date once this new system is in operation.

The figures for 1994, 1995 and 1996 are as follows.

Year	Total committedto Prison	Committed indefault of fines	Fines cases as %of totalcommitted
1994	10,153	2,173	21%
1995	9,928	1,920	19%
1996	10,367	1,610	15.5%

It is very important to note that, at no time, are more than 1.5% of prison spaces taken up by persons committed for non-payment of fines. The courts are moreover required to take ability to pay into account when imposing fines on persons convicted of offences attracting monetary penalties. Many persons committed to prison for non-payment of fines, who are perfectly capable of paying these penalties, only pay up when actually in custody or at the point of being put in custody. It is interesting to note the significant decline in percentage terms in the overall number of committals to prison for non-payment of fines over the period in question.