Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform
Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: Discussion
3:25 pm
Mr. Stephen Curtis:
The sad thing in regard to the Insolvency Service of Ireland is that it is dealing with people who do not have any money. That is the reason they turn to the service. However, the system as set up means the people administering the service must run it as a business and try to make a living from it. This involves charging people or passing the fees on to the creditors. If there is no pot of money available to pay creditors, the business model for being a PIP will not work. We need to have public practitioners in place who can administer deals for people who are insolvent and cannot pay their debts. Otherwise, we will not have PIPs and the system will not work or else only those who can afford to get into an insolvency arrangement will be able to do so. This does not make any sense.