Can you still go to jail for debts?
One of the final steps in the Court debt collection process where a debtor fails to abide by the terms of an installment order (an order to pay a certain amount laid down by the court to satisfy a court judgment) is jail! A creditor can apply to the District court for an order of committal i.e., an order for your arrest and imprisonment for failure to pay court ordered installments on a debt.
To apply for this order, the summons must be served on you personally and a declaration of its service on you must be filed in court. However if the failure to pay is due to hardship or inability to pay the Judge will not grant a committal order.
If you fail to appear, he may order your arrest. Even if you are committed, you still owe the debt. If you are insolvent, there may be the alternative to avail of the out of court, debt settlement schemes under the 2012 Personal Insolvency Act. These non-judicial processes stop initiation of Court proceedings, or the progress of proceedings; enforcements and recovery of goods and bankruptcy proceedings. The debtor is not required to make onerous payments and the schemes are processed through the Insolvency Service Ireland. (www.isi.gov.ie)