Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. O'Connor and his team for appearing before us. The ISI sent members a box of information leaflets that were very well written. They are in my office and I have been giving them to people who contact me. I attended the sitting of the Circuit Court in Limerick a couple of weeks ago. A total of 219 cases were being heard by the registrar that day. The registrar asked every one of the people who attended, many of whom represented themselves, whether they had been in touch with the ISI and the answer was "No". In fairness, there was a group of volunteers. I do not know the name of the organisation the volunteers were with but the registrar allowed them to set up a table at the side of the courtroom and they had ISI documentation.

I do not know how the ISI can follow up. Based on my experience in Limerick on that occasion, which I am sure is similar to those around the country, many of the people turning up at the Circuit Court have never heard of the ISI for various reasons that the ISI is aware of. The ISI should try to attend these Circuit Court sitting days and set up its own stand. I do not know if that is something the ISI would have the capacity to do. I am sure the Courts Service would facilitate it because I know it facilitated a voluntary organisation in Limerick.

Can the ISI link in with the financial institutions in that regard? If they are pursuing people for repossession, it is a long process. Could they not be obliged to inform the ISI of the course of action they are pursuing with a particular debtor? In other words, the ISI could then have its direct communication with those people to tell them that it knows they are in a spot of financial bother with the financial institution and is here to help them and point out what it can do for them. The profile of many people who presented in the court on the day was sad in the sense that there were many women with broken marriages and people who had become single as a result of marital breakdown. There were many sad cases and I mean that respectfully. So many other things were happening in their lives in the sense that they were before family law courts, were dealing with children and family issues and were trying to get by from day to day, so they were not aware of the ISI's services. This is something the ISI could follow up on.

In his statement, Mr. O'Connor said that he is trying to generate and promote more awareness of the ISI and it seems to be doing that to a degree but it could push the boat out a bit further. I have two suggestions. The ISI could have some kind of protocol with the financial institutions. Mr. O'Connor will probably tell us that this relates to data protection and confidentiality. If that is the case, perhaps we can look at this as legislators to get around it. Second, could the ISI find the wherewithal to attend court days because they happen every month and a half in most counties?