Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Senator Wilson. We should not ban any man or woman who has gone through hard times and has come to some sort of arrangement with his or her lenders from anything. We should be applauding him or her. Anybody who is prepared to pick himself or herself up and restart after going through something like that deserves the full backing of the entire country. I believe that Senator Wilson is correct and that to have this in the legislation would be unconstitutional. I cannot fathom the thinking behind it. I went broke in 1983 and lost everything I had other than the shoes and clothes I walked out of Galway city with. Where would I be today but for the good people who stood behind me and gave me a second start? We have to start looking at these things honestly and decently. We should not flog a man or woman forever just because he or she went broke. If he or she has managed to make some sort of deal with his or her banks or lenders, we should get behind him or her. We should not be shutting down this kind of expertise just because somebody made a bad business decision at some stage. I really think the Minister needs to look at that.