Personal Insolvency Consultation

In early 2017, the Department of Justice sought the views of interested parties on the operation of Part 3 of the Personal Insolvency Acts 2012 - 2015.

Part 3 of the Personal Insolvency Acts provides for the definition and operation in practice of the three protected debt resolution processes for insolvent individuals which were introduced in 2012:

• Debt Relief Notices,
• Debt Settlement Arrangements, and
• Personal Insolvency Arrangements.

Part 3 also provides for:

• the insolvent person to appoint a personal insolvency practitioner to assist and advise them,
• statutory rules on the protection of debtors and of creditors in case of personal insolvency,
• the legal effects where a proposed arrangement is agreed by the necessary majority of creditors,
• review by the courts in certain cases where a personal insolvency proposal which includes mortgage arrears on a family home is refused by creditors,
• offences if a person seeks to abuse these processes,
• registers of insolvency arrangements, and other matters.

Further amendments were enacted in 2013 and in 2015, including changes, in Part 3, to the Debt Relief Notice and the new Court review in certain personal insolvency cases.

The consultation took place in response to section 141 of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012, which requires the Minister for Justice (in consultation with the Minister for Finance) to review the operation of Part 3 and to report on its outcome to both Houses of the Oireachtas. This consultation was intended to give stakeholders an opportunity to make known their views on the operation to date of Part 3.

Submissions were specifically invited on the thresholds and processes under Part 3 for Personal Insolvency Arrangements (including for insolvent persons who are unincorporated small or medium entrepreneurs) and on whether these should be changed. The Government had committed to review this issue, under the Programme for Partnership Government.

The closing date for submissions was Friday 30 June 2017.

Access a copy of the submission by the Insolvency Service of Ireland