Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to the House. The Minister, who is responsible for the Bill, has spent a good deal of time listening to speakers and to reviews of the Personal Insolvency Bill.

I welcome the introduction of the Bill. It will be remembered for many years as major reforming legislation introduced by this Government. I thank the Minister and his staff, specifically the people in the Attorney General's office and the Parliamentary Counsel who have done a huge amount of work on the Bill in a short period. They worked under extreme pressure to get the Bill published before the summer, and it is welcome that it will be in the committee over the summer recess.

This is welcome legislation. The Bill directly addresses problems faced by people living across Ireland who went through the period of boom to bust. I have no doubt it will affect a huge number of people ranging from those who engaged in very low levels of borrowing to those who engaged in very high levels of borrowing. As public representatives every Member of this House will know people with personal debt, mortgage debt, business debt, personal loans and credit card loans. It affects thousands of people across the country who are in any sort of arrears.

On a daily basis people come into my office who are struggling to pay their mortgages or personal debts. People want to pay their mortgage, and they will almost go hungry to pay their mortgage. There are then those who can afford to pay their mortgage but will not pay it. They believe there will be blanket debt forgiveness in that regard but I hope people understand that this Bill is not about blanket debt forgiveness and looking after people who can but will not pay.

A great deal of what is contained in this Bill follows on from the recommendations in last year's Keane report. There are some very good recommendations in the Keane report. The flexibility of the Bill can be seen in three different mechanisms used to deal with the personal debt element: the debt relief notice; the debt settlement agreement; and the personal insolvency agreement.

I welcome the reduction in the term of bankruptcy from 12 to three years. That will make bankruptcy a more functioning option than the current under-used alternative.

Deputy Wallace spoke about the behaviour of some of the banks. People in my constituency have come to me, and I have no doubt they have gone to Deputy Wallace and other public representatives in my county, and told me about bank bailiffs calling in the middle of the night and taking machinery out of people's yards because they are unable to make their repayments to the banks. I refer to some of the well known banks like Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks. On occasion people with criminal records, acting on behalf of the banks, have gone in and taken machinery from people and harassed them and their families. Nobody should be treated in that way. We need functioning banks, and I understand they have to make profits, but there are ways and means of doing their business with and for the people. People did not get that type of reception when they went to the bank looking for the loan.

A huge number of people have fallen into bankruptcy through no fault of their own and must remain in that position for 12 years. Very good business people who had viable businesses have fallen into bankruptcy because they were not being paid for the services or goods they provided. This Bill addresses that problem by reducing the period of bankruptcy from 12 to three years. If we are to turn around our economy we need those people who have fallen into bankruptcy back in business and creating jobs. They are often the people who will take the risk, and they have the brains for business. The Bill brings the bankruptcy period within the norm of the European standards.

I have been calling for this legislation through my role in opposition and in government. This is a troika commitment but it is an issue the Government wants to act upon also because if we are to get out of our current circumstances, this Bill will do that. It is an important step for us to modernise the bankruptcy law in that it will provide an incentive for the banks to co-operate with those people in arrears.

I was elected to this House in 2002 and even in that boom period there were people who were unable to pay their mortgages but that situation is becoming more prevalent every day. As a public representative I recall going to local banks on occasion to negotiate with the customer but that no longer happens. The banks will not even listen to people. They refer them to personnel in their head office in Dublin or wherever. They do not even know the personal circumstances behind the case about which one is talking.

This Bill is designed to ensure that homeowners will have every opportunity to remain in their home. It is not about taking their homes from people. People's homes are their castles which they have built up over years. They are where they reared their families and created memories, and they want to remain in them. This Government wants to give that person every opportunity to remain in their family home. People deserve that, especially those who want to pay their mortgage and who will make every effort to pay their mortgage.

People are travelling around the country telling people not to pay the household charge but at the same time they are criticising the banks for not negotiating with people. This is a collective effort to get us out of the economic climate in which we find ourselves and if we are to do that we all must work together, Opposition and Government.

There are people from the Opposition going around the country saying the household charge is an unfair tax, yet they are also telling the Government to pay their mortgage for them. I find something very peculiar about people who are making an effort to pay their mortgage but will not pay their household charge. I encourage anybody who is struggling with a mortgage, especially if they are in arrears, to engage with the lender. If people engage with the lender, they can find a way to get out of their situation. There is no easy solution to tackling mortgage arrears, but it is an issue that must be confronted if people are to remain in their homes. I know everyone has their own difficulties and challenges.

I thank the Minister and the people who put a huge amount of work into this Bill over recent months. It is the most ground-breaking Bill that has been introduced in this House in recent years.

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