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

I will deal first with the amendment tabled by Senator Darragh O'Brien and then with the other amendments that are being discussed together. As Senator Power stated, the purpose of amendment No. 10 is to delete the existing provision in section 133(4) of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012, which provides that the public may inspect the insolvency registers at all reasonable times and to insert a new provision that provides that the registers shall remain confidential at all times. Section 133 of the 2012 Act provides for the establishment by the Insolvency Service of Ireland of registers of insolvency arrangements, debt relief notices, debt settlement arrangements, personal insolvency arrangements and protective certificates. The registers will be in electronic form and members of the public may inspect a register and may take copies of or extracts from entries in a register. While the name of the person will be posted on the registers, the full details of the debt arrangements will not be available to the public.

Registration of the grant of a protective certificate or the fact that a person has been granted a debt relief notice, debt settlement arrangement or personal insolvency arrangement is a necessary feature of the insolvency legislation. To protect the constitutional rights involved and to prevent potential actions for judicial review, the Act makes provision for enhanced oversight by the court of the new debt resolution procedures. This court involvement has the significant benefit to the debtor of providing protection from enforcement actions by creditors either during the negotiation period or during the lifetime of the arrangement.

The granting of a protective certificate must, to have its full effect, be registered in the appropriate public register. Likewise, the successful conclusion of an arrangement also must be recorded. This is normal in other jurisdictions and I am of the view this neither imposes a significant burden nor exposes a debtor to shame. Moreover, the decision to seek to participate in a debt resolution process of course is theirs alone. The provision for public register of insolvency arrangements is common in many countries, including the United Kingdom. Indeed, the new European Union insolvency register has a requirement for the interconnectivity of public insolvency registers. I should also mention the register of bankruptcies has existed in this State for a very long time and, consequently, in the circumstances, I cannot accept the Senator's amendment.

Amendments Nos. 44, 48 to 50, inclusive, 54, 60 to 62, inclusive, 64 and 68 to 70, inclusive, provide for a number of amendments to the 2012 Act in respect of the recording of information on the insolvency registers. They are required to provide greater clarity with regard to the recording and removal of information from the registers maintained by the Insolvency Service of Ireland. The amendments also seek to improve the presentation of the Act to provide consistency of approach. The purpose of amendments Nos. 48, 60 and 68 to sections 43, 83 and 122, respectively, of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 is to address omissions in the Act. At present, there are no provisions for the appropriate court to inform the Insolvency Service of Ireland of its decision to terminate a debt relief notice, a debt settlement arrangement or a personal insolvency arrangement, respectively, although the Insolvency Service of Ireland is to be obliged to remove information from the register on termination and therefore must be aware of the court's decision. The proposed amendments address these lacunae by the insertion of new subsections that provide for the necessary notification by the appropriate court to the Insolvency Service of Ireland and for the recording of the termination on the appropriate register. This is to the benefit of an individual who has exited a debt settlement arrangement.

Amendment No. 49 to section 45 of the 2012 Act is a technical drafting amendment to improve the presentation of the section. The amendment addresses the removal of information from the register of debt relief notices following a termination by providing that the Insolvency Service of Ireland shall remove all information from the register within three months of receipt of a notification of the termination of the debt relief notice, DRN. I am advised by the Parliamentary Counsel that this is better placed in section 45, which deals with the effect of termination of DRNs. Amendment No. 50 to section 46 of the 2012 Act is a technical drafting amendment that is required to ensure consistency of approach throughout the Act. The requirement to remove information "without delay and, in any event," is inconsistent with the requirement on the Insolvency Service of Ireland to so do within three months and again, this is an amendment to the benefit of debtors who have availed of the mechanisms under the Act.

Amendments Nos. 54 and 64 to sections 61 and 95 of the 2012 Act, respectively, are addressed to issues in respect of the protective certificate process. In paragraph (a) in both cases, the amendments clarify the information to be provided to the court in the case of an application for a protective certificate in connection with a debt settlement arrangement, DSA, and a personal insolvency arrangement, PIA, respectively. A similar amendment is being made to section 31 in the related amendment No. 44. The amendments in paragraph (b) in both amendments set out more clearly the recording of the issue of a protective certificate in the register of protective certificates of any extension of the protective certificate period, if applicable, and the date on which the protective certificate ceases. The amendments also make clear that within three months of the date on which the certificate ceases, the Insolvency Service of Ireland must remove the information from the register of protective certificates.

Amendments Nos. 61 and 69 propose to insert new subsections into sections 85 and 124 of the 2012 Act, which provide for the removal of the debtor's information from the register of debt settlement arrangements or register of personal insolvency arrangements, as the case may be, within three months of the date on which the DSA or PIA would have expired, but for the fact that the arrangement in question was terminated prematurely. Amendments Nos. 62 and 70 propose to amend the text of sections 86 and 125 to clarify the obligation on the Insolvency Service of Ireland to record the successful completion of a DSA or a PIA on the register of debt settlement arrangements or the register of personal insolvency arrangements with the information relating to the arrangement to be removed from the register within three months of the date of receipt of a notice of successful completion of the agreement. I should mention I am considering further amendments to the Personal Insolvency Act on Report Stage. These include technical amendments relating to the debt relief notice, the debt settlement arrangement and personal insolvency arrangement, as well as amendments relating to appeals and the functions of the Insolvency Service of Ireland.