State to face claims from motorists wrongly jailed in fixed charge notice scandal

Assistant Commissioner Michael Finn told the Oireachtas justice committee yesterday that as many as 119 solicitor firms have already contacted An Garda Síochána in relation to adverse consequences for their clients.

He said he believed nobody was sentenced to prison on the basis of a single FCN error, but acknowledged some motorists arrested because of fine non-payment may have spent time in prison.

Mr Finn said: “It is possible that persons who opted not to pay the fine did end up inside in prison and we are working with the court services and the individual solicitors to identify those cases.

“And there may well be civil actions in relation to that. That will follow in tandem with the process of clearing up the cases. The solicitors are in touch with us and we are engaged with them.

“I’ve no doubt there will be court cases and we will deal with them… openly, honestly and fairly.”