Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 37:

In page 32, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following subsection:
"(12) The debtor is guaranteed the right, at all times during the insolvency process, to open and operate any bank account (including online banking facilities) provided by a banking institution registered in the State.".

This amendment relates to the right to open a bank account. The reason I tabled the amendment is an article about the Bill in the Sunday Business Post on 7 October by Eoin Collins in which he stated:

One overlooked possible improvement in the legislation would have been to guarantee the right to operate a bank account. Surprisingly, this is still a difficulty for many undischarged bankrupts in the Republic unlike in Britain and the North. Life without a bank account in the modern world goes beyond a mere inconvenience and one wonders at the public policy logic for compelling people known to be in financial difficulty to operate on a cash only basis.

I am not sure why there is an insistence on that but it would be a logical improvement to the legislation if we were able to protect somebody with a guarantee of a bank account. Operating on cash-only basis is not possible in the modern world. I do not know how anyone would feed his or her family on such a basis. Having been in the grocery business, I am aware that few cheques are used nowadays and in future the likely use of identification will be on an optical or fingerprint basis, rather than through credit or debit cards. If there is a difficulty with having a bank account, it makes it almost impossible to feed a family. I am not sure whether the wording I have used is correct but, based on the newspaper article, there is a difficulty here compared with the North. The legislation should enable somebody to at least have the right to open a bank account.