Results 4,681-4,700 of 8,212 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank Senator Martin for his support. We will not agree on all the amendments and that is fine but I thank him for his support. To clarify, the concern is not just what is being counted against one's income in a personal insolvency case. The problem is access to the PIP. The very point of access is that once one's income goes over €60 per month, having paid reasonable living...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am partially reassured but I ask the Minister of State to clarify a couple of points. There is one social welfare payment explicitly mentioned, namely, children's allowance. Why is that payment specifically mentioned but others are not? Am I to understand from the Minister of State's description - because it is not in the Act - that, in calculating net disposable income, social welfare...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will be delighted to hear this is being dealt with in a place other than this section.

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister. That deals with my concern because the matter is being dealt with in a different place. However, I may introduce an amendment on the qualified child payment on Report Stage. Children's allowance is the general payment but qualified child increase is another payment specifically around children. I will take an advisement on the calculation of net disposable income and...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 2: In page 3, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 26 of Principal Act 2.Section 26 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (2), by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (b): “(ba) any social protection payments of which a debtor may be in receipt, shall not be taken into account...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 3: In page 3, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 26 of Principal Act 2.Section 26 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (2), by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (b): “(ba) any social protection payments which have been subject to a means test and which a debtor qualifies...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 4: In page 3, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 26 of Principal Act 2.Section 26 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (2)(c), by the substitution of “€1,500” for “€400”, and (b) in subsection (5)(b)(ii), by the insertion of the following after “child...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 5: In page 3, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 26 of Principal Act 2.Section 26 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (2)(c), by the substitution of “€1,500” for “€400”, and (b) in subsection (5)(b)(ii), by the insertion of the following after “child...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 6: In page 3, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 26 of Principal Act 2.Section 26 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (2)(c), by the substitution of “€1,500” for “€400”, and (b) in subsection (5)(b)(ii), by the insertion of “, and the working family...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: When we talk about creditors it is important to remember that not all creditors are necessarily big banking institutions. Creditors are sometimes businesses, service providers, subcontractors and workers who have been impacted.It is important. I support the concept of a "confirmation of truth", which is being introduced in section 11 of this Bill. It is reasonable that instead of a...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 8: In page 10, between lines 7 and 8, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 99 of Principal Act 14.Section 99 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (2)(b), by the insertion of “in respect of secured debts less than €2,000,000” after “Personal Insolvency Arrangement”, and (b) in subsection 2,...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: On one level, I agree with the Minister of State that the real concern is bankruptcy. I will be frank in saying that I believe our bankruptcy legislation is too lax for those with very large-scale debts, although not for the majority. I find it difficult to understand situations where people who declare bankruptcy are, a few years later, engaged in multimillion euro property deals and...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 9: In page 11, between lines 7 and 8, to insert the following: "(e) may only be made in respect of debt not exceeding €1,000,000.". The Bill provides for a confirmation-of-truth mechanism. The confirmation of truth is a little more than a declaration you simply write yourself. At least, it has some consequence if you do not write it. The...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Briefly, to be clear, this is not to say that persons with a certain level of debt are dishonest. That would be a wrongful inference for the Minister of State to make. It is to say that where there is a debt of over €1 million it is a significant debt. There are those who are owed up to €1 million so, given the significance of the amount involved, it is appropriate that there...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes.

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 10: In page 11, between lines 25 and 26, to insert the following: “Report to Oireachtas 18. Within 12 months of the passing of this Act, the Minister shall prepare and lay before each House of the Oireachtas a report to include a comparison of the methodology, calculation and application of— (a) the guidelines on Reasonable Living Expenses as developed...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am delighted to hear of that engagement and not surprised because I see many of the same principles reflected. The concern is not the impact of the minimum essential standards of living in respect of the ISI's calculations, but in the other direction - not on the Vincentian partnership but in respect of our social protection system. There is a conversation I am hoping to start and I am...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is absolutely fine.

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 11: In page 11, between lines 25 and 26, to insert the following: “Report to Oireachtas on secured debt 18.Within 12 months of the passing of this Act, the Minister shall prepare and lay before each House of the Oireachtas a report to include statistical analysis of: (a) the use of the Principal Act in respect of secured debt; (b) the extent to which it has...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am happy with the Minister of State's reply but it is important that we have a sense of this. It is not personally identifying information. It is literally a question of how many people are using this legislation to deal with debt of over €1 million or €2 million. Do 40% of cases relate to small debt or do 70% of cases involve debt of more than €2 million? I doubt...