FINES (PAYMENT AND RECOVERY) ACT 2014

JurisdictionIreland
CitationIR No. 7/2014
Year2014


Number 7 of 2014


FINES (PAYMENT AND RECOVERY) ACT 2014


CONTENTS

PART 1

Preliminary and General

Section

1. Short title and commencement

2. Interpretation

3. Orders and regulations

4. Repeals

PART 2

Capacity to Pay Fine, Payment of Fine by Instalments and Failure to Pay Fine

5. Capacity of person to pay fine

6. Option of fined person to pay fine by single payment or instalments

7. Failure to pay fine by due date

PART 3

Recovery Orders

8. Appointment of receiver in default of payment of fine

9. Provisions supplementary to section 8

10. Approval by Government of persons for appointment under section 8(1)

11. Failure to recover fine, etc., by use of receiver

12. Cesser of recovery order

13. Monies recovered by receiver

PART 4

Attachment Orders

14. Attachment order

15. Compliance with attachment order

16. Notification of changes of employment and employment status

17. Cesser of attachment order

18. Monies recovered by attachment order

PART 5

Community Service Orders and Imprisonment in Default of Payment of Fine

19. Community service order in default of payment of fine

20. Imprisonment in default of payment of fine

PART 6

Miscellaneous

21. Service of notices

22. Amendment of Courts (No. 2) Act 1991

23. Data sharing and exchange

24. Application of monies where only part of fine is paid


Acts Referred to

Companies Acts

Court Officers Act 1945 (No. 25)

Courts (No. 2) Act 1986 (No. 26)

Courts (No. 2) Act 1991 (No. 21)

Courts and Court Officers Act 2009 (No. 36)

Criminal Justice (Community Service) Act 1983 (No. 23)

Criminal Justice Act 2006 (No. 26)

Criminal Justice Administration Act 1914 (Geo 4 & 5, c.58)

Electronic Commerce Act 2000 (No. 27)

Employment Agency Act 1971 (No. 27)

Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 (No. 22)

Fines Act 2010 (No. 8)

Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act 1851 (14 & 15 Vict., c. 93)

Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (No. 26)


Number 7 of 2014


FINES (PAYMENT AND RECOVERY) ACT 2014


An Act to provide for the payment and recovery of fines imposed on persons convicted of offences; to provide that the court imposing any such fine on such a person shall take into account the person’s financial circumstances; to provide for the making of community service orders in respect of such persons, or the commitment to imprisonment of such persons, in certain circumstances where such fines imposed on them are not paid; to consequentially repeal or amend other enactments; and to provide for related matters. [16 th April, 2014]

Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows:

PART 1

Preliminary and General

Short title and commencement

1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Fines (Payment and Recovery) Act 2014.

(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders either generally or with respect to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or provisions.

Interpretation

2. (1) In this Act— “Act of 1983” means the Criminal Justice (Community Service) Act 1983 ;

“Act of 1986” means the Courts (No. 2) Act 1986 ;

“administration fee” means the administration fee referred to in section 6 (4) required to be paid by a fined person who has opted to pay the fine by instalments under section 6 (1)(a)(ii);

“appropriate court official”—

(a) in relation to a fine imposed by the District Court, means the district court clerk for the district court area in which the fine was imposed,

(b) in relation to a fine imposed by the Circuit Court, means the county registrar for the county in which the fine was imposed or, if a combined court office has been established under the Courts and Court Officers Act 2009 in respect of that county, the manager of that combined court office,

(c) in relation to a fine imposed by the High Court, means the principal officer serving in the Central Office attached to the High Court who manages such Central Office, and

(d) in relation to a fine imposed by the Central Criminal Court, means the registrar of the Central Criminal Court;

“attachment order” means an order under section 14 (1), including such an order as varied under section 14 (4)(a);

“community service order” shall be construed in accordance with section 3(1A) (inserted by section 19 (1)(c)(i)) of the Act of 1983;

“contract of employment” means—

(a) a contract of service or apprenticeship, or

(b) any other contract whereby an individual agrees with another person, who is carrying on the business of an employment agency within the meaning of the Employment Agency Act 1971 and is acting in the course of that business, to do or perform personally any work or service for a third person (whether or not the third person is a party to the contract);

“due date for payment”, in relation to a fine, means—

(a) if the fined person has opted to pay the full fine under section 6 (1)(a)(i), the date by which the fine is required to be paid in accordance with the order of the court that imposed the fine, and

(b) if the fined person has opted to pay the fine by instalments under section 6 (1)(a)(ii), in respect of each such instalment, the date by which the instalment is required to be paid;

“employer”, in relation to a fined person, means a person who employs the fined person under a contract of employment, and includes a trustee of a pension scheme under which the fined person receives periodical pension benefits;

“enactment” has the meaning assigned to it by section 3 of the Fines Act 2010 ;

“financial circumstances”, in relation to a person who has been convicted of an offence, means—

(a) the amount of the person’s annual income,

(b) the aggregate value of all property (real and personal) belonging to the person,

(c) the aggregate amount of all liabilities of the person including any duty (moral or legal) to provide financially for members of his or her family or other persons,

(d) the aggregate of all monies owing to the person, the dates upon which they fall due to be paid and the likelihood of their being paid, and

(e) such other circumstances as the court considers appropriate;

“fine” means a fine imposed by a court on a person consequent upon his or her being convicted of an offence by that court, and includes any costs, compensation or expenses, in addition to the fine, that the court orders the person to pay;

“fined person” means a person on whom a court has imposed a fine and, in relation to a recovery order or attachment order, means such person the subject of the order;

“Minister” means the Minister for Justice and Equality;

“personal public service number” has the meaning assigned to it by section 262 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 ;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister;

“receiver” means an approved person or sheriff appointed under section 8 (1)(a) and, in relation to a fined person, means the person who has been so appointed in respect of the fined person;

“recovery order” means an order under section 8 (1)(a) and, in relation to a receiver, means such order under which the receiver is appointed.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), where a fined person has opted to pay the fine by instalments under section 6 (1)(a)(ii), references in this Act to the payment of the fine include references to the payment of the related administration fee, and the other provisions of this Act shall, with all necessary modifications, be construed accordingly, except that all monies applied towards any such payment shall, for the purposes of this Act, be treated as being applied towards the payment of the fine and, after the fine has been paid in full, only then towards the payment of the administration fee.

(3) Subsection (2) does not apply in any case where a court is, under a provision of this Act, considering, in respect of a fined person where all or part of the fine has not been paid, making a community service order in respect of the person or committing the person to prison in accordance with section 2 or 2A of the Act of 1986.

(4) For the purposes of this Act—

(a) the person by whom an employee of a public body, within the meaning of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 , is paid in accordance with the employee’s contract of employment with that public body is deemed to be the employee’s employer, and

(b) a person who is otherwise a member of staff of a public body, within the meaning of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 , is deemed to be employed under a contract of employment, and the person by whom he or she is paid in accordance with the terms and conditions of his or her service is deemed to be his or her employer.

Orders and regulations

3. (1) The Minister may by regulations—

(a) provide for any matter referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed,

(b) prescribe the forms to be used to exercise an option to pay a fine by instalments under section 6 (1)(a)(ii).

(2) Without prejudice to any provision of this Act, regulations under this section may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the regulations.

(3) Every order (other than an order under section 1 (2)) and regulation made by the Minister under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order or regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House sits after the order or regulation is laid before it, the order or regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

Repeals

4. The following...

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