Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Section 9 is, in no way, a safeguard, as it has been labelled by some Government Deputies and Senators. It states no order deducting money from a person’s hard-earned wages will be concurrent. The truth is that this means that there will, therefore, be consecutive deductions. The Minister for Justice and Equality, at the launch of the annual report of the Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, stated:

People want to pay their debts. Those who can pay them will pay them. No reasonable person will resent seeing someone who has fallen on hard times benefit from proportionate debt forgiveness.

There is, however, no debt write-down involved. Instead, this is merely a ploy, labelled as a safeguard, to keep people in debt for a longer period to make sure every last cent is squeezed from their pockets. This section will only prolong the hardship and it is not a safeguard.