Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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358. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of personal insolvency practitioners who have applied for payment in respect of insolvency proposals which were vetoed by creditors; the total number of insolvency proposals which have been vetoed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4321/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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In October 2014 the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) announced an initiative whereby a Personal Insolvency Practitioner (PIP) can seek a supporting payment towards their costs in certain circumstances when an arrangement has not been passed by creditors.

Subject to satisfying certain conditions - most fundamentally, creditors voting against an arrangement that would have produced a return greater than would be the case in bankruptcy - every qualifying case will receive a payment of €750.

The purpose of this initiative is to promote and support greater engagement between PIPs and debtors, with the objective of enhancing the accessibility of debtors to Debt Settlement Arrangements and Personal Insolvency Arrangements under the Personal Insolvency Act 2012.

This initiative is expected to be available until 31 December 2015, but will be reviewed during 2015 to assess its effectiveness and to ensure that it has brought about significant improvement in the case outcome for debtors. The initiative is open to all PIPs authorised by the ISI.

I can confirm that no payments have yet been made by the ISI as PIPs had until 31 January 2015 to submit a claim for Quarter 4 of 2014, therefore the exact figures will not be available until all claims have been received and verified.

The ISI has confirmed that it will publish details of payments made under the initiative in its Quarterly Statistical Report. An analysis of creditors who voted no will also be made available.