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

A little bit of silence would be a good thing. If only I was not being obliged to run around the Houses to deal with so much legislation today. This is the second Bill with which I have dealt today and there is a third with which I must deal later.

First, there are no moneys available to create a central fund. Second, we must wait to see how the insolvency legislation will work in practice. I cannot reframe and redraft the latter under the guise of this Bill. I have stated that if we discover that any aspect of it is not working as intended, we will amend it. I have no difficulty in repeating that. However, I cannot start redrafting legislation and making special financial arrangements in respect of one discrete part which applies to the repossession proceedings relating to family homes but which does not apply to the remainder of it. There is no practical way of so dealing with matters. Even in the absence of the personal insolvency legislation, the courts have - with great regularity - adjourned proceedings where someone who is about to have his or her home repossessed sets out to the relevant judge a practical proposition and states that he or she will have sufficient funds in two to three months in order to allow him or her to pay his or her arrears or that he or she needs time to discuss matters with his or her bank. If banks are recalcitrant and obstruct the processing of reasonable proposals, does anyone seriously believe that members of the Judiciary will fail to exercise some degree of judicial discretion in the context of how they proceed? I am of the view that the latter will exercise a sensible approach to this matter. I cannot interfere with the individual decisions they may make. The courts have inherent powers to adjourn proceedings where they deem it appropriate to do so and none of us should forget that.