Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

On one level, I agree with the Minister of State that the real concern is bankruptcy. I will be frank in saying that I believe our bankruptcy legislation is too lax for those with very large-scale debts, although not for the majority. I find it difficult to understand situations where people who declare bankruptcy are, a few years later, engaged in multimillion euro property deals and receiving praise for it in the newspapers. I agree there are concerns about bankruptcy. However, those problems are caused by the pull factor of making bankruptcy an attractive option for persons with extremely high assets and debt, which sometimes includes high speculative debt. There is a concern, not for the general population but for people at high levels, that bankruptcy is as an option following a period of speculation. We need to address that.

My amendment in respect of personal insolvency would have two positive functions. Let us consider situations where there is a secured asset, for example, a shop. There are many people who, in good faith, will want to have a longer period and want to keep their businesses going because they have employees and so forth. A longer personal insolvency arrangement allows more time for those who want to manage to keep going, have a secured asset and do not want to go bankrupt because they realise that others depend on and engage with them. There are many people who may not have a high income but have a secured asset and for whom the ten-year period would allow them to maintain a reasonable standard of living while also maintaining the process. There are people who enter insolvency with the best of intentions but may not be able to economically turn the situation around. They may not be making large amounts of money with three, five or ten years. This would allow them to continue. However, the Minister of State is right that there is the danger of those who will opt for bankruptcy instead of insolvency. People sometimes do that to maximise their personal financial situation and it is a concern that needs to be addressed.

I have a concern about those who will enter the scheme for a long period of time until the next deal comes through. What do we do if somebody has been in the scheme for a long period and is then in the position of being significantly wealthy a year or two later? Is there any comeback for creditors who agree to a write-down of debt? I am thinking of smaller creditors in that regard.

The reality is that there are very different families, business owners and individuals who might go into this scheme. My amendment plans for those with the best intentions. I agree that it might create a disincentive for those with less good intentions but that is a problem of the pull factor in the way our bankruptcy legislation is constructed, rather than the push factor in my amendment.