Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)

I very much welcome the legislation brought forward by Deputy Donnelly. This process is a welcome development in this new Dáil where members of the Opposition or, indeed, of the Government parties can bring proposals forward. I was very interested in the Minister's response, although I did not read the last section which he did not have time to complete.

This legislation runs concurrently with the Government's Personal Insolvency Bill 2012. In his opening remarks, Deputy Donnelly suggested that he accepted this legislation was doomed to failure on Tuesday but from my point view, it certainly adds to the debate and will help the process considerably. I am also working on my own Private Members' legislation. It is quite an arduous process to go through and I would advocate greater levels of support for Members who bring forward Private Members' legislation, in particular in terms of legal advice.

I was most interested in the Minister's comments about sending messages to courts. Having read Deputy Donnelly's seven proposals, I support each message he is endeavouring to deliver. Equally, the job of sending messages is not the job of the Legislature. If we look at the ongoing debate on legislation in regard to upward only rent reviews, which has proved so difficult to bring in due to constitutional constraints, it shows that the method for sending messages is separate from the process of sending legislation. That is why I particularly welcome the initiative today because the messages which can be sent, whether or not this legislation is successful, are important ones to send to the courts. Having said that many, although not all, of them are already taken on board by the courts.

The Minister mentioned that we must protect existing legal arrangements made between parties which cannot be changed retrospectively. In the proposals before us, it is very interesting that the three main ones are non-judicial in nature. That highlights not only the limitations of Deputy Donnelly's legislation but the constraints the Minister is under when it comes to what he and the Government propose. The debt settlement relief certificate, the debt settlement arrangement and the personal insolvency agreement are non-judicial agreements.

There has been some comment on how many Members attend on Fridays. There are 166 Deputies, many of whom specialise in certain areas. This process is for Members to get their teeth into certain issues. I am sure Deputy Donnelly has put much time into this legislation and I commend him on that but I would not expect him, no more than anyone else, to be in the House every first Friday. The more Opposition and Government backbenchers that specialise in certain areas, the better this will become.

I must take my lead from the Minister for Justice and Equality who stated clearly that, although we might agree with Deputy Donnelly's sentiments, we will have to try to work them through the committee process.

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