Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have raised various issues regarding law and order with several taoisigh and Ministers for Justice going back through the years. I have produced figures in this House showing how more than 32,000 crimes a year are being committed by offenders while out on bail, an increase of 41% on the total of ten years ago, and amounting to about 90 crimes every day of the year.

We are paying out more than €75 million a year on free legal aid in criminal cases, very often footing the bill for serial offenders with hundreds of previous convictions who do not have to make any contribution to their defence. Four out of five burglars released from prison in Ireland go on to reoffend within a short period, more than half of them within a year of their release. Overall, three out of five offenders released from custodial sentences reoffend within three years, most of them within the first 12 months.

Figures I have received from the Courts Service show that people are apparently ignoring fines imposed by the courts in respect of various breaches of the law. Currently, up to three quarters of the fines imposed by the courts in Ireland are going unpaid. Last year, more than €15 million of the €20 million plus in fines imposed was not paid, and the total value of unpaid fines over the past five years amounts to more than €48 million. That is from the Courts Service.

So far this year, more than 43,000 of the 60,000 plus fines imposed by the courts during 2023 are still outstanding. A total value of more than €15.2 million remains unpaid. Many of these fines were imposed in respect of serious offences and were obviously intended to act as a deterrent against further breaches of the law. However, the figures I have received show that most people simply ignore them. For instance, there were more than 5,700 fines imposed last year on people convicted of public order offences but only about 1,300 of them were paid. In the past five years, a total of 144,000 fines have gone unpaid. In that period, enforcement sanctions were only imposed on 3,300 offenders. These are figures the Courts Service supplied to me earlier this year.

With over €48 million outstanding in fines for the past five years, what does the Government propose to do to recoup that money?

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