Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)

I welcome the Bill and I am glad we have the opportunity to discuss the issue here. I admire Deputy Donnelly's honesty in acknowledging that the Bill is not perfect and needs to be worked on and finessed in the House, which is admirable. Friday sittings such as this show the Government's commitment to reforming how we do business in the House, which I welcome. Your attendance, a Cheann Comhairle, and the attendance of the Minister for Justice and Equality show we are committed to Friday sittings. While there are not any members of the media present today, I hope they are looking on back in their offices and they can report on the quality of the debate taking place today.

Earlier the Minister pointed out the constitutional difficulties the Bill would potentially create. I have no doubt the spirit of the Bill will find its way into the final draft of the personal insolvency Bill to be published in a few months' time. I look forward to making many comments on that Bill when it comes to the House. I hope it will have a fast passage through the House because people need leadership and help from us on this issue.

I know that everybody in this Chamber will have heard terrible stories from people who are living in fear because they are scared of having their homes taken away from them and ending up out on the street. A person came to my constituency office two weeks ago, who is an example of the type of person the personal insolvency Bill will help. That person was one of a couple, who bought their home at the height of the boom three years ago and it cost them just over €700,000. Unfortunately their relationship broke down and in addition there has been a more than 50% decline in the value of the property which is now worth just over €300,000. The bank is refusing to accept an offer on the property even though a potential buyer is willing to purchase it. The person who saw me is in complete stress over the issue of not just a broken relationship but also a broken home. No doubt the former partner is in the same situation. It is not fair and we need to act on the matter to provide leadership in order to help people like this out of their current crises.

Deputy Durkan spoke about how we can help people in significant negative equity. He made the very fair point that many people in negative equity do not fall behind with their mortgage repayments because they are in the lucky position of still having employment. I bought at the very top of the market and am in significant negative equity, but I do not need help from the State because I am in the lucky position of having employment and there are others like me. My point is that we need a targeted approach to dealing with this issue. Some people are not falling behind and do not need help. We need to help those people in financial difficulty and under stress. The Government is determined to deal with the problem. I have listened to the Minister, Deputy Shatter, and others and I know we are determined to get this issue right. The recently published heads of the personal insolvency Bill will be debated by the relevant committees so that the Members of the Oireachtas can have their say on the Bill, which we want to work for the betterment of all our people.

It is excellent that Deputy Donnelly has brought forward this matter. We should compliment him on the positive contribution he has made - the Government welcomes positive contributions from all sides of the House. I thank him for his work on the issue.

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