Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Banks are not particularly mentioned either. There have obviously been engagements with the credit union movement and financial institutions. As I kept raising in the context of the debt relief notice, credit union debts are all unsecured, excluding the security of what is held on deposit. There is a provision in the legislation stipulating that where one has ¤3,000 on deposit in a credit union and ¤9,000 in borrowings, one's debt is effectively ¤6,000. The credit union is entitled to gain access to what is on deposit. Under the terms of the legislation in dealing with debt relief notices, for example, there is express provision that an individual cannot run up more than ¤650 in debt to a financial institution while in a debt relief arrangement during the period of that arrangement. The extent to which additional debt can be incurred during the period of years during which one is covered by a debt relief notice is clear.