Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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494. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons who have availed of bankruptcy each year since the change of the law in recent years to shorten the term of bankruptcy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15949/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I am advised that the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) has confirmed that the number of persons that have availed of bankruptcy each year since the new legislation was enacted in December 2013 is as follows:

In December 2013, the length of bankruptcy was reduced from 12 years to 3 years. The bankruptcy term was further reduced to one year under the Bankruptcy (Amendment) Act 2015, which took effect in early 2016.

In each of the years listed since changes in December 2013, the number of debtors petitioning for their own bankruptcy has been over 90% of the total for that year.

To give an indication of the scale of the effect of the legislative change in 2013, it might be noted that the number of persons declared bankrupt in 2013 was 58.