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

This group of amendments deals with procedures for creditors’ meetings relating to proposals for a debt settlement arrangement or personal insolvency arrangement, court approval of a debt settlement arrangement or personal insolvency arrangement, and also with procedures for variation of such arrangements. Amendment No. 83 provides for a more specific reference to the documents required to be given to the creditors prior to a creditors’ meeting to consider a proposal for a debt settlement arrangement. The amendment also makes it clear that where a creditors’ meeting does not take place before the expiry of the protective certificate, the debt settlement arrangement procedure shall be deemed to have come to an end.

Amendments Nos. 84, 85 and 86 are technical drafting amendments to provide for correct cross-referencing consequential to Amendment No. 40. Amendments No. 137, 138 and 139 provide for corresponding amendments to the provisions relating to creditors’ meetings regarding proposals for personal insolvency arrangements.

Amendment No. 87 proposes to replace section 67(3) with new text in order to make the provisions consistent with similar provisions in the Bill, such as those in section 65(2). It also provides that where an amended debt settlement arrangement proposal is prepared, the personal insolvency practitioner should also be required to furnish this proposal to the insolvency service. Amendment No. 142 will make a corresponding amendment to section 105(5), which applies to amended proposals for personal insolvency arrangements.

Amendment No. 88 clarifies that the voting rights exercisable by a creditor at a meeting of creditors to approve a debt settlement arrangement are in proportion to the amount rather than the value of the debt due to that creditor on the day the protective certificate is issued. This is a better expression of the likely situation.

Amendment No. 140 replaces the current section 104 of the Bill in order to set out, in a clearer fashion, all of the relevant factors in regard to the determination and exercise of voting rights at creditors’ meetings in regard to a personal insolvency arrangement. Amendment No. 141 is a technical drafting amendment.

Amendment No. 143 replaces the current text of section 106 with regard to the proportion of creditors required to approve a personal insolvency arrangement. The purpose of the amendment is to clarify the operation of the section. The section has been shortened to reflect the key point, which is the percentage of votes in total and in the secured and unsecured classes. Some other provisions of the section have been relocated to the revised section 104 proposed by amendment No. 140.

Amendment No. 182 proposes to insert a new section in Chapter 6. It sets out how debts in other currencies are to be dealt with in the context of the provisions of the Bill. There are specific references to a foreign currency in section 68(3) and section 104(2). However, I am advised that it would be more appropriate to delete those references and to provide a general currency conversion provision applicable to the three new debt resolution processes instead.

Amendments No. 90 and 144 replace the provisions of section 73 and 111 in regard to the approval by a court of a debt settlement arrangement or personal insolvency arrangement. The text of the sections, while not altered substantially, is now presented in a more coherent fashion in regard to the satisfaction of the eligibility criteria for the insolvency service and the court.

Regarding the variation of debt settlement arrangements and personal insolvency arrangements, amendment No. 73 is consequential on Amendment No. 100, which will delete section 78 of the Bill. This section provided for the process of termination of a debt settlement arrangement by a meeting of creditors. On further reflection with the Office of the Attorney General and Parliamentary Counsel, it is proposed that the section be deleted on the basis that it is not particularly required in the light of the provisions of section 79, which require the involvement of the court. There is no comparable provision in the personal insolvency arrangement.

Amendments Nos. 96 and 151 are required to ensure consistency between the debt settlement arrangement and personal insolvency arrangement provisions of the Bill with regard to the variation of either arrangement. These amendments address inconsistencies between sections 79 concerning the debtor’s consent to a variation of a debt settlement arrangement and the corresponding section 115 concerning consent to the variation of a personal insolvency arrangement.

Amendment No. 97 will remove the discretion previously afforded to the personal insolvency practitioner in regard to the calling of a creditors’ meeting to consider a possible variation in a debt settlement arrangement. Amendments Nos. 98, 99, 152, 153 and 154 aim to clarify the procedures for voting by creditors on a proposed variation of a debt settlement arrangement, or a personal insolvency arrangement.

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