12 Sep 2012, 10:43
Minister for Justice and Equality Alan Shatter TD will attend the meeting of the Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality tomorrow, 13th September for the Committee stage of the Personal Insolvency Bill 2012.
At this stage, the Bill will receive detailed consideration and will give members the opportunity to propose and discuss any amendments to this important piece of legislation.
The legislation will introduce several non-judicial debt resolution processes, subject to relevant conditions in each case:
• a Debt Relief Notice to allow for the write-off of qualifying debt up to €20,000, subject to a three year supervision period;
• a Debt Settlement Arrangement for the agreed settlement of unsecured debt over 5 years;
• a Personal Insolvency Arrangement for the agreed settlement of secured debt up to €3 million (though this cap can be increased with the consent of all secured creditors) and unsecured debt over 6 years.
It will also establish a new Insolvency Service which will have a role in either certifying or determining an application for a Debt Relief Notice or certifying applications for a Debt Settlement Arrangement or a Personal Insolvency Arrangement.
Committee Chairman David Stanton said: “In a report forwarded to the Minister last March, this Committee made a number of important recommendations on the Heads of the Bill to help tackle the problem of over-indebtedness and personal insolvency in Ireland. Tomorrow, the Minister will come before the Committee where the Bill as published will be examined in detail.”
This meeting with Minister Shatter will start at 10am on Thursday, 13th September, in Committee Room 2, Leinster House 2000. The first session will take place from 10am until 1pm, with the second session commencing at 2.30pm. If the Committee stage of the bill is not completed at this point, it will resume at 10am on Friday, 14th September.
Committee proceedings can be followed live at:
http://www.oireachtas.ie/ViewDoc.asp?fn=/documents/livewebcast/Web-Live.htm&CatID=83&m=o
For further information please contact:
Ciaran Brennan,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +3531 618 3903
M: 086-0496518
F: +3531 618 4551
Committee Membership
Deputies:
Niall Collins, Michael Creed, Alan Farrell, Anne Ferris [Vice-Chairman], Seán Kenny, Finian McGrath, Jonathan O’Brien, John Paul Phelan and David Stanton (Chairman).
Senators:
Ivana Bacik, Paul Bradford, Martin Conway, Rónán Mullen, Denis O’Donovan and Katherine Zappone.