Ms Fiona O'Dea:

In terms of looking at other options outside Ireland, when we were considering SCARP we did look at other jurisdictions. We looked at New Zealand, the United States and the Netherlands. Each jurisdiction has its own unique characteristics.

Interestingly, the World Bank has indicated there is no consensus on an optimum insolvency model. We felt that the small company administrative rescue process, SCARP, was the best model for Ireland.

The Deputy asked about the public consultation on the miscellaneous provisions Bill. I will give the Bill its proper title if I can find it. It is quite a long one anyway. The Bill went through public consultation as part of the development of its general scheme from 8 May to 9 June, so it was a four-week public consultation. The general scheme was published subsequent to that in March of this year. It is on the priority list for drafting in this session. The Bill will cover four areas of law, including corporate governance, company law enforcement, company law administration and some aspects of insolvency. As I mentioned, we are looking at making some amendments to SCARP. As part of any process of drafting legislation, we always engage with various stakeholders and stakeholders were given an opportunity through the public consultation to submit their views.

Interestingly, SCARP did not attract a huge amount. We did not see too much coming through about fundamental problems with the process, just some gaps that might be in the process or some adjustments that might be made to it. However, we have not seen anything fundamental so far.