Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá fáilte is fiche roimh an Aire Stáit chuig an Seanad don phlé inniu. Sinn Féin will support this Bill to the next Stage as it represents an important legislation in the context of the pandemic. Our general approach has been to facilitate changes to the law which are sensible and address the outworkings of Covid and the attendant restrictions within wider society. The Bill falls into this category and it is interesting that we would have supported some of these measures regardless of the pandemic.

I will begin by speaking to three provisions within the Bill. The first is section 2, which relates to the thresholds for receiving a debt relief notice. This section increases the calculated assets which an eligible person can hold from €400 to €1,500. This is an important expansion as many people would meet the income criteria but would hold negligible assets, which would disqualify them from getting a debt relief notice.

The second is section 3, which allows for remote meetings between debtors and personal insolvency practitioners. There have been a number of amendments across the legal code to allow for remote meetings, which are important to facilitate people in staying safe. It is notable there are extensive factors outlined to decide where such a remote meeting can take place. Many people do not have the ability or experience to deal with such matters over video calls so the balance on paper looks good. I would be interested if the Minister of State could take steps to ensure the practice does not become entirely remote-meeting focused and those who need to access face-to-face meetings can do so with the appropriate measures put in place.

The final specific provisions I wish to speak to are sections 10 and 13, which allow courts to take into account exceptional circumstances when adjudicating on the granting of a protective certificate. This is intended to address the pandemic and the obvious difficulty a debtor may have in coming to a resolution that satisfies their creditors. However, it can equally apply to the prevailing macroeconomic conditions.People will tend to borrow when times are good and they feel that they can pay back a loan or meet a financial obligation. They are, however, often at the mercy of developments in the wider economy too. With employment becoming more and more precarious, it will be interesting to see how this amendment will apply in reality.

While the Bill is welcome, it does not, as is the case with all law reform, operate in a vacuum. The pandemic has had the effect of polarising income equality. The State had the sixth highest level of household debt in the EU in 2019. Although banks' savings and deposits have gone up overall, it is not the case for certain professions that have been hit hard by the necessary restrictions. Hospitality and retail workers in particular were badly affected and we in Sinn Féin strongly oppose the reduction of the pandemic unemployment payment given that it would place many households in severe financial difficulty through no fault of their own. People want to do the right thing, which is to stay home and protect the most vulnerable in our society and they should not suffer financial ruin as a result of doing that.

At times, the Government has acted as if we all have access to the same resources in terms of finance and housing. that is simply not the case. At the start of the pandemic, Cabinet Ministers talked about growing vegetables or rooting around in attics, which is not really possible for renters or those in smaller houses or flats. The latter demonstrated how out of touch Government can be. The reality of the pandemic, nearly

The other important thing to note is the influence of mortgages being transferred from the traditional pillar

The withdrawal of Ulster Bank from operations in the Twenty-six Counties will lead to serious consequences. As highlighted by Teachta Pearse Doherty, the vulture fund Cerberus is circling Ulster Bank's entire €20.5

Before I conclude, I must apologise to the Leas-Chathaoirleach and the Minister of State because, unfortunately, I have a clash and will not be here for the remainder of the debate. I commit to reading the debate for the Minister of State's response and I look forward to engaging with him on the next Stages of the Bill.