Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 42:

In page 32, to delete lines 35 to 40 and substitute the following:

“(e) the debtor’s written consent to—

(i) the disclosure to the Insolvency Service,

(ii) the processing by the Insolvency Service, and

(iii) the disclosure by the Insolvency Service to creditors of the debtor concerned, of personal data of that debtor, to the extent necessary in respect of the Debt Relief Notice process;”.

The purpose of these amendments is to strengthen the Bill's provisions concerning the disclosure of the debtor's information for the purpose of his or her application for a debt relief notice, debt settlement arrangement or personal insolvency arrangement. It is important for data protection purposes that the debtor gives written consent to the disclosure of his or her personal data to the insolvency service and to his or her creditors, and also to the making of further inquiries by the insolvency service in considering the debtor's application. The proposed amendments seek to improve on the current text to make clearer the consent provisions required.

Amendment No. 42 proposes the substitution of the existing text in section 26(2)(e) with new text that sets out more clearly the disclosure requirements. It provides that the debtor is required to give written consent to the disclosure of his or her personal data to the insolvency service, the processing of those data by the service and the disclosure by the service of those personal data to his or her creditors by the insolvency service to the extent necessary for the processing of his or her application for a debt relief notice.

Amendment No. 96 proposes the substitution of the existing text in section 54(2)(f) with new text which sets out more clearly the disclosure requirements regarding a debt settlement arrangement. Amendment No. 140 proposes the substitution of the existing text in section 98(2)(f) with new text that sets out more clearly the disclosure requirements regarding a personal insolvency arrangement. Amendment No. 43 replaces the existing text of section 26(2)(f) with new text that makes clear that the debtor's written consent is also required for the making of any inquiry by the insolvency service under section 27 in considering the debtor's debt relief notice application. For consistency, amendment No. 97 makes a similar amendment to section 54(2)(g) regarding debt settlement arrangements. Amendment No. 141 makes a similar reference to section 89(2)(g) regarding personal insolvency arrangements.

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