Cllr Gary Doherty.
BY CRONAN SCANLON
A DECISION to jail a single mother from east Donegal for non-payment of a TV licence has been branded a “major scandal”.
Cllr Gary Doherty (SF) told the Donegal News yesterday (Thursday) that Gardai arrived at the home of the woman at 7:10 am at the end of last month and took her by taxi to Mountjoy prison for failing to pay a €450 fine imposed in Letterkenny District Court last spring. She was put in a holding cell for three hours before being released and given a bus ticket back to Donegal.
However, he said the woman, who has one child in National School, had already repaid €212 of the penalty.
Cllr Doherty claims Gardai were in breach of the new Fines Bill which was amended last year in order to prevent people being jailed for the non-payment of small fines.
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