David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support the Government's amendments grouped with a number of others. I will speak to amendments Nos. 17, 23 and 30, which are in the name of the Sinn Féin Senators. Amendment No. 17 refers to subsection (2)(b), line 12, and proposes to delete ¤60 and substitute ¤80. The Fianna Fáil Party has a similar amendment that seeks to substitute ¤60 with ¤150. I expect the logic is the same. I listened carefully to the Minister's comments and he offered some comfort when he said the figure of ¤60 is not set in stone. The regulations will initially include ¤60 but it could be increased. This is obviously a measure of whether someone is entitled to a debt relief notice. Various criteria can be applied to people qualifying for the debt settlement measure. We do not believe the ¤60 figure is sufficient in terms of the maximum disposable income. That can be subjective but ¤60 is insufficient. We will press the amendment as we believe it should be higher. I took comfort from the Minister's initial response.

Amendment No. 23 proposes to insert the following on page 27, subsection (5), between lines 11 and 12: "(c) the Minister for Justice shall, no later than 30 days after the enactment of this bill publish detailed guidelines defining ?reasonable household expenses? for the purposes of section 24(5)(a) of this Bill?. The amendment is self-explanatory. The Bill entitles people to reasonable household expenses necessary to maintain a reasonable standard of living. For the debtor and his or her dependents, it is not clear what this constitutes. The Minister says it is up to the approved intermediary of the debt relief notice and in most, if not all, cases it will be MABS. We have the utmost faith in the organisation in dealing with these issues but the Minister has responsibility to lay down the criteria so that we know exactly what we are voting on and what provisions are being made for the criteria to be used. The criteria should be set out for the intermediary and it should not be up to the intermediary to do so.

Amendment No. 30 proposes to insert the following subsection in page 28, between lines 7 and 8: ?(7) The Minister for Justice shall, no later than 30 days after the enactment of this bill publish detailed guidelines concerning the household equipment and appliances that are reasonably necessary to maintain a reasonable standard of living for the debtor and his or her dependants, for the purposes of section 24(6)(c) of this Bill?. The same logic applies here. The Minister should set out the criteria and not leave it to the intermediaries.