Mr. Lorcan O'Connor:

It is difficult to say for sure how long it might take at this early stage. However, one must bear in mind that when one looks at the scale of mortgage arrears, one is looking at thousands upon thousands of cases. There would need to be a level of automation in place. Resources would also need to be put in place. The Bill proposes that every individual case is assessed on its financial circumstances and then the most likely or appropriate solution is identified. That would not only require resources, but also skilled resources in that area. All of that would take time.

We have experience of setting up from scratch and we did it in a relatively quick time. By amending the existing personal insolvency legislation, one could actually achieve the Bill's primary purposes in a quicker time while also offering potentially less risk in terms of challenge and a holistic solution which will deal with all of a person's debts.