Noel Grealish demands action as figures show 75% of court fines "ignored" by offenders

A local TD is demanding action - as figures show 75 percent of the €20m in fines issued by Irish courts last year were just ignored by the offenders. 

Speaking in the Dáil, Deputy Noel Grealish also took aim at serious repeat offenders and the vast sums spent on free legal aid every year.   

Quoting figures supplied by the Courts Service, Deputy Grealish said in the past five years, almost 150 thousand fines have gone unpaid - worth €50m.  

He argued there's clearly a lot of offenders with no respect for the law whatsoever - and something has to change.