Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will stick to my speaking note even though I am very tempted to move off script.

I understand that the Senators are opposing this section. I can understand that they are ideologically opposed to the provisions of the Bill which deal with attachment of earnings and deductions from social welfare payments. In any event, I will briefly outline the purpose of section 1.

Section 1 is the definitions section of the Bill. Among the terms defined is "net scheme payments", which is required for the purposes of dealing with deductions from certain social welfare payments. "Debt" is defined as not including debts arising from the repayment of loans to a debtor made by a bank, credit union, moneylender or credit card debt. It is important to note that "net scheme payments" is a definition which protects those on social welfare because it ensures that the deductions from a social welfare recipient's payments do not dip below the basic social welfare rate.