Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Money messages are outside our direct control, but we certainly need an answer on the matter.

As the Deputy knows, this is not the only Bill that will require a money message to proceed. A feature of the current Oireachtas is that some good Bills are being held up due to the lack of a money message and this needs to be addressed. If we do not do anything, as I gather it the situation on the ground is getting worse. For example, Deputy O'Callaghan will be familiar with the court case on the locus standi of the debtor.

Let us consider the existing appeal provisions, as set out in section 115A. This applies where the family home is involved and someone goes through the Insolvency Service of Ireland, the proposal put forward by the PIP is rejected and there is a "No" vote in accordance with the 65% threshold and so on, and the borrower wishes to take the matter further. As the committee knows, the borrower also has to have been arrears prior to January 2015. Last night I received a reply to a parliamentary question with up-to-date data on this. Up to 20 October, there have been 632 applications for appeal under section 115A and the majority of these cases have yet to receive conclusion. I was provided with a table that sets out a summary of those that have reached conclusion. The table breaks down the first 180. Presumably, therefore, 180 of the 632 appeals have reached a conclusion. Of the 180 that have reached a conclusion, the appeal was approved in 57 of them and, in effect, the veto was removed as a result of the court decision. That is welcome, but it is only 32% of those that have been concluded. In 97 cases, the reviews were dismissed by the court, which includes 51 objections that were upheld on consent, and 26 reviews were withdrawn by the debtor. That is a breakdown of the first 180. In a small number of cases, an appeal was taken to the High Court and I have a breakdown of the outcomes of appeals to the High Court of Circuit Court decisions. A total of 18 appeals have been concluded. In four cases, the reviews were approved, in nine cases they were dismissed and five cases were struck out or withdrawn.

The Insolvency Service of Ireland may point out that a deal may have been done in the interim in cases where the reviews were withdrawn by the debtor. We do not know that, however, and cannot be certain of it. It is also possible that the borrowers were simply weary and ultimately conceded that they were not going to win. The reply shows, however, that only 180 of 632 appeals since 2015 have been concluded and that, of those, only 57 have been successful. That is before the recent court case, which has really put a freeze on the entire process. PIPs are not going to be prepared to take the risk of potentially being held personally liable for costs. Therefore, there is a need for amending legislation to clarify the situation and to ensure that debtors have proper locus standiand can take the appeals in their own names. More family homes will be lost unnecessarily if we do not intervene and try to re-balance the existing system.