Ms Dara Breathnach:

There are a couple of different interlinking provisions in this regard. An employee will be able to apply to have his or her sole trader employer deemed insolvent. In that case, that employee will come under the deemed insolvent arrangements. If that same sole trader, rather than just closing the doors, actually goes into a personal insolvency arrangement, there is usually an element of debt forgiveness within that, as the Deputy will be aware. Various creditors, including employees, may vote to accept something that gives them 10 or 30 cent on the euro because it is better than nothing. In that case, where such an insolvency arrangement is entered, the employee will be able to get the balance of what is owed to them from the insolvency payment scheme. If the sole trader does nothing, the employee will go under the employer deemed insolvent application. If the employer does everything right and does the insolvency arrangement, the employee can still get the balance through that scheme.