Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not have statistics on that matter. Those statistics would be maintained by the HM Courts and Tribunals Service in the United Kingdom. Certainly statistics on the number of bankruptcies are published annually in the United Kingdom. I do not recall that those statistics contain information detailing the past residential locations of people who have made applications. They may well contain details of those who have applied and who have been declared bankrupt and those who have not been declared bankrupt but I do not think the information the Deputy is seeking is available. We all know, either anecdotally or through newspaper reports, of high-profile individuals whose cases have become the focus of public discussion and information made available. A recent case which received much publicity involved an individual who had been unsuccessful initially in seeking a bankruptcy declaration in the United Kingdom where the United Kingdom did not accept that England was the centre of main interest. The individual then had a second run at it and was unsuccessful. That case was reported in the newspapers.

I do not have that detailed information and it could only be obtained from the United Kingdom authorities. I doubt if it retains information about the origins of individuals. From the perspective of the United Kingdom courts they either have jurisdiction because it is a person's centre of main interest or it is not. If not, the centre of main interest of that individual may be Ireland or a large number of other countries in which that individual has previously resided and conducted business.