Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 13 May 2015

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform

Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Permanent TSB

2:00 pm

Mr. Shane O'Sullivan:

No, not really. The only thing we would add to it is that we do not think there has been enough debate around reducing some elements of the insolvency judicial treatment - the debt relief notice and the debt settlement arrangement, the former of which runs for three years while the latter runs for five years. We would be very supportive of a dramatic reduction in those terms, because the insolvency regime is in place to keep a roof over people's heads. To the extent that those terms could be reduced and the unsecured debt written off quicker than is currently the case, that would enable people to focus on the mortgaged portion and maintaining the property. We feel there should be more discussion in that area, whereas with bankruptcy it is about liquidating the property, so it is about taking the property and selling it. We have no particular issue with reducing the period from three years to one, but it is not about keeping a roof over one's head. Insolvency and bankruptcy are different. One is in a very particular corner, unfortunately, in a bankruptcy situation. I understand the distinction, but we would like more talk about reducing the terms for the other two solutions.

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