Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I intend to raise many of the points I am making in the House today with representatives of the ISI tomorrow when it attends the justice committee. The last point that the Minister made in terms of public awareness cannot be emphasised enough. My colleague, Deputy O'Dea, and I attended the sitting of the Circuit Court in Limerick recently, where there were 219 cases heard by the County Registrar on the day. Every person involved was asked by the registrar whether they had engaged with the ISI. Inasmuch as I could ascertain having sat through most of it I do not believe there was one person there that day who said that he had interacted with it. That is an indictment of the ISI and the fact that it is not marketing its service. It also shows a disconnect between the banks, which are pursuing these people relentlessly into court, and the insolvency service in that there is no loop between the two in terms of banks pointing and pushing people towards the insolvency service and showing them that this is a channel through which they should engage.

I call on the Minister again to outline when she intends to remove the bank veto. Can the Minister give us a timescale in this regard? As we know, certain people are watching this day by day. Can the Minister also offer a comment on the Government's proposals around the bankruptcy term? At present it is three years at a minimum. Deputy Willie Penrose from the Labour Party has produced a Bill on the matter. Where is the Government in terms of reducing the three-year term? Can we have the Minister's view on the matter?

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