The Minister, then, would make rules under this section governing the transition from bankruptcies under the old system to the new? Is that what is provided for here?
SECTION 4.
Question proposed: " That section 4 stand part of the Bill."
Yes. The Act will apply to subsisting bankruptcies in so far as this is capable of being done. This means that the Act and the new bankruptcy rules will apply to such bankruptcies subject to whatever adaptations and modifications the court may deem necessary in the particular case before it. It was the view of the committee, which comprised the then bankruptcy judge, bankruptcy officials and insolvency experts, that subsisting bankruptcies would be covered by the provision of the draft Bill they proposed. An exception is made in the case of preferential payments following the precedents laid down in the Preferential Payments in Bankruptcy (Ireland) Act, 1889, and in section 285 of the Companies Act, 1963.
Question put and agreed to.