Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

This is a minor matter relating to the charging of fees by the personal insolvency service. I know the Minister has provided for exemptions from the payment of fees or for waiving, remitting or refunding fees in whole or in part in different circumstances, classes of circumstance, cases or classes of case. Sometimes public bodies under pressure which find it difficult to deal with a volume of cases may use different strategies to keep the public at arm's length. These strategies may include opening and closing hours, access by the public etc. Sometimes, unfortunately, this extends to the charging of fees. Long before the Minister held office, the aliens section in the Department of Justice famously opened the telephone lines between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. and one could never access that section on behalf of a client. Any fees charged by the insolvency service must make the service accessible to the widest possible extent, particularly as many accessing the service will be in deep financial distress or have limited means. I am not sure if this can be accommodated within the legislation but there is other legislation in which it has been specifically indicated that a service must be "cheap". Sometimes we do not like that term because it implies something is cheap and nasty but this service must be affordable. If it is possible within the legislation or any of its instruments, we should ensure that any fees charged by the service will be affordable.