Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sticking to the Bill.

Part 7, on bankruptcy, also concerns me greatly. Is this to protect the banks yet again? Is it another part of the eviction Bill the Minister had passed last week, going by the fancy name of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act? The Minister has stated that we must do all in our power to minimise the risk of challenge - my goodness - and judicial review and operational problems, ensure public confidence in the legislation and enable the insolvency service to function and carry out its brief without risk to reputation and credibility. I accept that, but fear it is too much in the way of protecting the banks, the State and its agencies against the person. We have too much of that while there are toothless organisations such as the Competition Authority and others that the Minister will not staff or resource properly. The same applies to the Central Bank (consolidation) Bill. We have no laws for the banks. We used to say there is one law for the banks and one law for others; now there is no law for the banks and all the laws are for the others. There has been reckless carry-on, and that is why I take a very poor view of the repeal of section 6 of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012. Where was the Attorney General? She was able to give three and a half hours to individual Deputies recently, trying to persuade them to vote for this ill-named, ill-timed and unfair Bill that we will deal with tomorrow. In my view, that is another abuse of government. Why could nobody proofread this legislation in 2012? Why must we make amendments to something that is hardly on the Statute Book yet does not work? Where are the people who are paid to draft this legislation? They had all the legal advice they needed to base it on, as well as the aid of the Attorney General's Office. They should do that instead of lecturing and trying to persuade backbench Deputies to vote for an immoral Bill. It would be more in their line to earn their money by drafting proper legislation rather than coming back in mid-2013 to try to amend a section of the 2012 Personal Insolvency Act. It is a shambles and a disgrace. I can see the Minister's fingerprints all over it. Anything that makes more money for the legal people is something the Minister will always support.

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