Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes. It is a large section.

Section 16C(8) states, "The Minister may issue a direction to the Directorate in relation to the delegation of the Executive’s functions". If the directors have a concern about a certain issue, the Minister can bypass them and delegate the functions of the directorate directly to the director general. Am I misreading it? There must be certain lines of demarcation. That is my issue of concern.

There is one other issues about which I have concerns. The section states that a person shall not be eligible for appointment as director general if he or she "has made a composition or arrangement with his or her creditors". I can understand it in the context of bankruptcy, but does that mean that there has been a readjustment of his or her mortgage? Is his or her mortgage split and put in abeyance, and a certain amount of it warehoused for a period of time? What exactly is meant by "a composition or arrangement with his or her creditors"? It could be the grocery shop down the road with whom he or she has made a settlement? We need clarity on this.

This is in the context of where we are as a people. We are trying to encourage persons back into society and the Minister is saying here, in this subsection, that a person shall not be eligible if he or she has made a composition or arrangement with his or her creditors. Ones creditor could be anybody. They are not specified here and I do not think they are specified anywhere else.

Surely this is bizarre in view of the fact that the Government has just announced a personal insolvency scheme where a person can have a composition or arrangement with his or her creditors and we are saying that they should be able to partake in normal everyday society. That is a matter on which I seek clarity.