Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
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Question 112: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the reasons for the delay in finalising the legislation on personal insolvency; when he will have the completed Bill before Dáil Éireann; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22034/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I would refer the Deputy to my reply to Questions 530 to 533 inclusive, of 1 May 2012 which indicated the following:

"The Personal Insolvency Bill is currently being drafted by my Department in cooperation with the Office of the Attorney General and Parliamentary Counsel. This is a very lengthy and complex Bill from a legal standpoint, with proposed provisions which do not currently exist in Irish law. While it was hoped that the Bill would be published by 30 April, work on its development is still proceeding in the context of the many submissions received on the Bill which include, the report of the Joint Oireachtas Justice Committee received in early March following their completion of hearings on the Bill.

The Deputy will appreciate that it is important that the provisions of the Bill are legally robust. This requires careful legal drafting of the text and full consideration of issues which emerge during the drafting process.

The Troika team was in Dublin in the past fortnight and progress on the Bill was discussed with them. They are supportive of the provisions contained in the General Scheme of Bill which I published on 25 January last along with my colleague the Minister for Finance. They appreciate the complexities involved in drafting a Bill of this nature and understand that some additional time is required to finalise the text in preparation for publication. I expect that the Bill will be one of the matters for discussion with the Troika in the context of their next quarterly review in early July.

I can assure the Deputy that the Bill remains a legislative priority for the Government and the revised time frame for publication of the Bill is now the end of June next with the strong intention to commence Second stage in the Dáil prior to the Summer recess to facilitate early passage of the legislation through the Oireachtas in the Autumn session."