Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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426. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will take action to prevent personal insolvency practitioners from imposing large up-front fees. [39340/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Personal Insolvency Act 2012, as amended, does not make provision for the prescription by the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) of practitioner fees.

Fees will be negotiated by the Personal Insolvency Practitioner with the debtor in each individual case. I am advised that a number of practitioners and prospective practitioners have indicated that they will not charge an up front fee for an initial consultation.

In so far as Practitioner fees associated with the development of Debt Settlement Arrangements and Personal Insolvency Arrangements are concerned, the ISI does not prescribe practitioner fees, these fees will be negotiated with an individual debtor by the Personal Insolvency Practitioner in advance of a case proceeding and will be deducted from the amount of money an individual debtor is calculated as having available to pay their creditors during the term of the arrangement.