Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Senator Martin that the vast majority of people behave fairly and are genuine. The amendment has been drafted from the point of view of practitioners but all they are doing is signalling. The amendment is not drafted from the point of view of massive banks. It is merely saying that if we are going to remove this constraint, let us not have a situation where debtors will be advised not by conscientious personal insolvency practitioners but by people who will say to them that, by the way, they can get another two years or an extension simply by making a declaration and, according to the Ali decision, it will not really affect their eligibility if it turns out to be false.

I am not trying to stand up for big banks. I am trying to stand up for making the system work and support decent, genuine people, not work in favour of those who will simply decide that if they can get extra time out of this or obstruct justice being done in their case, they will make that declaration and see how they get on. I am not putting forward some kind of big moneylenders' philosophy but merely trying to fine-tune the effect of the abolition of the cut-off period so that it does not create an abuse or even a temptation to abuse the system.