Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 11, to delete lines 19 to 30 and substitute the following: “(3) For the purposes of making an order under this section, the court shall be guided by the Insolvency Service of Ireland reasonable living expenses as required under section 23 of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012.”.

This amendment relates to the attachment of earnings order and the role of the court. The Bill does not offer any guidance on how a court is to discharge its functions, particularly if the debtor is not present in court to make representations in person. It makes no reference to the reasonable living expenses guide to which the Insolvency Service of Ireland and the official assignee must have regard under the personal insolvency and bankruptcy legislation to ensure a debtor’s income does not fall below an acceptable minimum income standard. What is happening here is that the courts will have to make a determination of that standard. Why try to recreate the world? Reasonable living expenses are already dealt with under section 23 of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012. This should be used. It should not be determined by a court. Even FLAC has raised this issue and has said that the courts in general do not have the wherewithal or financial assistance to be able to make such a financial determination. The courts are there to oversee our legal system, not to carry out financial analysis. If it was the case that the court was expected to carry out a specialised financial task, the only way it could do so would be to hire financial and budgetary experts to deal with people suffering from over-indebtedness, and that is not part of the Bill either. The only solution here is the amendment. Perhaps there is some reason, but I would like to hear what the Minister of State has to say about why we are going down a different path in providing the court with exclusive power instead of working with the Personal Insolvency Act's determination of reasonable living expenses.