I move:—
That the Committee agree with the Seanad in the following amendment:
The following subsection added to the section:—
"( ) The Schedule to the Principal Act shall, as respects hirepurchase agreements to which subsection (1) of this section relates, have effect as if ‘Right of Hirer to terminate Agreement' and the first four paragraphs in the notice therein prescribed were deleted."
The purpose of this amendment, which was introduced by me in the Seanad and which has been accepted by the Seanad, is to seal up the consequences of an amendment passed here on the Report Stage. The House will remember that I brought in an amendment, on the Report Stage, which provided that:
"Section 5 of the Hire Purchase Act of 1946 shall not apply to hire purchase transactions in respect of industrial machinery, the value of which would exceed £200."
The purpose of that amendment was to meet a request by the Industrial Credit Company as a result of the experiences they had in this business. The Hire Purchase Act, 1946, and the present Bill provide that, when a certain proportion of the hire purchase payments have been made, the hirer may return the goods to the owner without any more responsibility.
In the case of specialised industrial machinery, or machinery which has a very fast rate of obsolescence, it was found that the hirers of such machinery could return it to the hire purchase company—in this case the Industrial Credit Company as well—and the Industrial Credit Company could not dispose of that machinery. The wisdom of such a provision in the Bill was readily seen in the Seanad and the amendment was accepted. It is required now that the amendment, as proposed, be inserted in the Schedule of the Principal Act in order to make the amendment fully effective. That is the purpose of its introduction here.