David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The amendment is interesting. I fully accept the logic of the Minister's response, as has the Senator who proposed the amendment. The Minister said he would revert to me on Report Stage having received advice from the Attorney General on this issue. What will be the status of the bank accounts of those in debt relief arrangements? Will the bank accounts be frozen, for example? What will happen the personal account of a debtor who owes ¤5,000, ¤10,000 or ¤20,000, for example? I include accounts with small sums.

We had a discussion on net disposable income and reasonable household expenses, etc. Although we disagreed on the figures, we accept people necessarily incur living expenses that must be drawn from disposable income. As the amendment implies, people must have bank accounts. It would help me to know what happens to their bank accounts when they require debt relief. How will they fit into the scheme?