Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 June 2021
1154. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice if her attention has been drawn to concerns that the legal system involving personal insolvency arrangements was on the brink of collapse due to cases being regularly delayed due to too much work being taken on by individual practitioners. [31592/21]
View answerAs the Deputy will appreciate, the operation of arrangements relating to personal insolvency are a matter for the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI), which is an independent statutory body as set out in section 8(3) of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012.
Additionally, the Legal Aid Board is the statutory, independent body responsible for the provision of civil legal aid and advice to persons of modest means, in accordance with the relevant criteria and provisions of the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995. Aside from the supports provided through Abhaile, normal legal aid rules apply in repossession cases.
These supports for citizens are provided independently by the bodies concerned who continue to deliver their services in accordance with their respective statutory mandates with continued success. They have maintained provision of these services to the public, including through the innovative deployment of remote technologies, during the challenging pandemic period. Moreover, these cases have also continued to be dealt with by the Courts as part of the priority being given to vulnerable citizens under the Government’s national COVID-19 response.
A Personal Insolvency Arrangement (PIA) is an insolvency solution for people with unsecured and secured debts. PIAs are proposed by a Personal Insolvency Practitioner (PIP) a qualified professional advisor expert in the area of debt advice and regulated by the ISI to deal with Personal Insolvency Arrangements.
The PIA Court review is available where the borrower has worked with a PIP and proposed a PIA to their creditors but the creditors have not approved the proposal, although the borrower’s PIP considers it fair and reasonable to all concerned. Under section 115A of the Act, the PIP in this situation can ask the Courts, on behalf of the borrower, to review the PIA proposal. If the Court agrees that the proposal is overall fair and reasonable, using the criteria set out in section 115A, it has the power to impose the proposal on the creditors.
As part of the PIA Court review process, the Legal Aid Board can provide the borrower with legal representation by a solicitor and barrister to make the Court review application, subject to the case meeting the criteria set out in the Civil Legal Aid Act. For this service, the borrower’s PIP applies on their behalf to the Legal Aid Board. If the Legal Aid Board is satisfied with the application, it can then issue a Legal Aid Certificate for the borrower. The PIP chooses and instructs a solicitor on the Board's PIA Review Solicitors panel to act in the matter.
Under the legal aid element of the Abhaile Scheme, any barrister on the Legal Aid Board's panel may act in a section 115A personal insolvency review case. I am advised that the practice is that the barrister is selected by the solicitor who has been appointed to represent the applicant. The Legal Aid Board also informs me that it has attempted to encourage additional practitioners to take up work relating to section 115A of the Act including holding a training event for members of the Bar to encourage them to take on civil legal aid work earlier this year. More generally, I understand that the Board always welcomes a spread of barristers undertaking legal aid work in any specific area of law or similarly in any specific geographic location.
The Legal Aid Board reports that it has granted 206 section 115A reviews in the period from 1 January 2021 to 28 May 2021. During January to December 2020, 562 borrowers were granted legal aid to apply for a personal insolvency review under section 115A of the Act. Since the launch of the Abhaile Scheme in mid-2016, almost 2,300 borrowers were provided with legal aid to take proceedings pursuant to section 115A.
The Government is currently conducting an external governance review of Abhaile, which will be followed later this year by a comprehensive review of the Scheme as part of the previous government decision to extend Abhaile until the end of 2022. A further commitment has been made under the Programme for Government to continue to resource Abhaile. It is the intention that these reviews will, in their respective findings, inform the delivery of Abhaile into the future, including as a key support for citizens during the period of COVID recovery.
