Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I thank Deputy Ó Cuív for welcoming the publication yesterday of the personal insolvency Bill. It is a pity he took some of the good out of the welcome by making some begrudging comments in respect of it.

It is fair to say that the biggest worry in the period of this recession for individuals and families, even bigger than the loss of the job or the loss of the business, is the fear of losing their home. I refer to people who have found themselves in mortgage difficulties and in circumstances of personal debt of one kind or another. That issue has been addressed by the Government in the publication of the personal insolvency legislation yesterday, which is the most radical reform of personal insolvency legislation we have seen. I remind Deputy Ó Cuív that his party had 14 years in Government in which to address this issue and did not address it.

The Government has addressed the issue of personal insolvency and introduced legislation which will reduce the period to three years. That alone will strengthen the hand of borrowers in their discussions with their banks. The legislation provides for a range of non-judicial debt settlement arrangements, provision for a debt relief certificate for people who have unsecured debt of under €20,000 with no income and no assets, debt settlement arrangements where people can make a settlement with their bank and, critically, the introduction of the personal insolvency arrangement, which includes secure debt and will include also mortgage debt. For the first time we will have legislation that will enable borrowers to negotiate debt settlement arrangements in a realistic and reasonable way with their banks and their financial institutions. It is a good day for this country that for the first time we now have hope for families and households in that they can see a way to working themselves out of their personal debt circumstances. Interestingly, this comes on a day when as a country we have seen the first signs of hope regarding our re-entry to the markets with the bond exchange yesterday, which is the first time the country has been back in the markets since September 2010.

This is a very positive development. The intention is that the heads of the Bill will be discussed in the joint Oireachtas committee and any improvements Members of the House wish to suggest or detail they want to discuss can be discussed in that committee. The Bill then will be formally published and I hope it will be enacted in a relatively short period.

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