Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 20:

In page 23, to delete line 38.

I raised this issue on Committee Stage because it is a provision that did not sit comfortably with me from the first time I read the Bill. The Department has provided me, and presumably Deputy McManus, with a note on this issue but I remain concerned. This section sets out the circumstances in which a person may be disqualified from membership of the IFI board or an existing member shall have his or her membership rescinded. One of these circumstances is where a person "makes a composition or arrangement with creditors". My reading of this is that it would apply to anybody who makes legal arrangements to repay money they owe. For example, it would apply where a person is having difficulty meeting mortgage repayments and thus makes arrangements to move to interest-only repayments for a time or to have a repayments holiday for six or eight months while looking for a job. I would have thought this was a very unreasonable reason for disqualifying somebody from board membership.

The note from the Department does not really address the issue. The note states that the definition of an arrangement with creditors is that, without becoming bankrupt, a debtor may seek the protection of the court while he makes an arrangement with his creditors under Part V of the 1988 Act. It adds that the person asks the court to protect his property and person against the claims of his creditors until he submits an offer to his creditors. The note continues by stating the debtor would have to make a statement of affairs and so on.

If a person is in that position, should we just require the person to step down from the board, particularly given the context is the current economic climate in Ireland? I seek clarification on that. I have received partial clarification but I am not totally happy that this would be a reasonable requirement for people having to step down from a board of this type, when there are all sorts of circumstances whereby a person may find himself or herself having to put an arrangement in place with creditors on a temporary basis while getting his or her life in order. It does not necessarily mean the person is dishonest or a crook.

I would like to have the Minister's view, and I am reasonably happy to accept his recommendation, one way or the other. However, just because this was the way it was always done is not justification for doing it again in regard to conditions around board membership.

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