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

There was not a single dissenter. Even Deputy Michael Healy-Rae did not dissent because he did not have a figure in mind himself.

I made my misgivings regarding this provision clear when we discussed it on Committee Stage. As I recall, I pointed out both in this and the other House that in practice, in the 30 or so instances of bankruptcy that are decided in this country every year, creditors do not ask about the bankrupt individual's wedding ring. It is not part of the conversation and is not perceived as an issue creditors would wish to address. In the case of a husband who becomes insolvent, for example, it is not the case that his wife's wedding ring will be brought into play. Where an individual becomes insolvent, his or her personal assets are normally part of the consideration, but I am not aware of the jewellery issue having created a problem for anybody in reality. This particular issue has grown legs because it is all very interesting and makes a great newspaper headline. I acceded to the wishes of Deputies to designate one item of personal jewellery - which does not have to be ceremonial - as exempt from the consideration of a person's assets. I continue to have misgivings that this measure might actually encourage creditors to seek valuations in future in circumstances where they would not heretofore have approached the issue at all. In other words, it is my concern that we are not necessarily travelling a route that will be helpful to individuals in serious debt who resort to this particular debt resolution mechanism.

To be clear, my view on this does not come from any ideological perspective, and I have huge sympathy for individuals who find themselves in serious debt. This legislation is about introducing mechanisms to assist people in debt to work their way through it and to facilitate that debt being written off. As it stands, there is no statutory mechanism whereby a person in debt can, without going into bankruptcy, have that debt or some portion of it written off. When this legislation is enacted, we will have, under the debt relief notice, the possibility of €20,000 of debt being written off within a short number of years, after which individuals can get on with their lives. Creditors, no matter how meritorious, will effectively be burnt in this situation. In fact, they may end up getting absolutely nothing while the debtor walks away. This will be of considerable assistance to people with very limited assets and income who made financial mistakes. It is important to bear in mind that not everybody is a victim here. Indeed some of those who benefit will have arrived in their predicament simply by spending money they did not have or spending it unwisely. As a consequence, creditors who might, from the best of motives, have given these people credit will get burnt. We must be balanced in this regard.

As I said, we have included, on the urging of Deputies opposite and their colleagues in the Seanad, a provision which exempts jewellery up to a particular value from being counted as an asset in the context of the debt relief notice mechanism. The measure has been deliberately designed, with provision for the amount to be amended by way of regulation, to ensure we can keep a watchful brief on how it works in practice. This was done for a series of reasons. It is important, for example, when financial limits are set in primary legislation, where it is appropriate to do so, that provision is made to deal with issues of inflation.

I cannot go any further than that on this issue. I reiterate my reservations regarding the inclusion of the measure. I remain of the view that in a broad range of circumstances in which people are in financial difficulty, creditors would not seek to pursue this issue at all. Unfortunately, however, it seems to be the only aspect of the legislation in which the media were interested. If a person has an item of personal jewellery worth hundreds of thousands of euro - before Deputy Healy-Rae shouts at me that nobody has such items of jewellery, I challenge him-----

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