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

I thank the Deputy for this proposed amendment. Changing "may" to "shall" in regard to the requirement on the personal insolvency practitioner, in the context of proposing a variation of a debt settlement arrangement, may seem logical but there may be circumstances where a debtor's financial circumstances deteriorates so rapidly that termination of the arrangement seems imminent. In such a case, a statutory requirement for a meeting to be called might not be desirable. However, I am conscious that we should have regard to any inconsistency issues which may arise in the context of a similar provision in section 115 in respect of a variation of a personal insolvency arrangement.

I wish to consider the point further with the Parliamentary Counsel and I assure the Deputy that any amendment necessary to achieve consistency, including his amendment, will be brought forward on Committee Stage in the Seanad. With that assurance, I hope the Deputy will agree to withdraw the amendment so that we can get further advices from Parliamentary Counsel on what is proposed.

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