The Personal Insolvency Bill has completed its passage through the Dáil (lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament)). The Bill is now moving through the Seanad (upper house of the Oireachtas), where its provisions are subject to debate and amendment. The Minister for Justice recently confirmed his intention that the Bill will become law by Christmas.

The Bill provides for: 

• The introduction of three new debt settlement systems, namely:
  • Debt Relief Notices
  • Debt Settlement Arrangements
  • Personal Insolvency Arrangements
• The establishment of an Insolvency Service of Ireland to oversee these new debt settlement systems and provisions for the supervision of personal insolvency practitioners
• Reforms to the current bankruptcy legislation, including:
  • The reduction of the automatic discharge period from 12 years to 3 years, subject to certain conditions
  • Increasing to 3 years the review period for certain pre-bankruptcy transactions

View our previous articles on the Bill here and here and here.

Contributed by Delia McMahon.

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