Personal Insolvency Bill - Highlights

The Personal Insolvency Bill was published in January 2012.  It is expected that the Bill will be passed in to law by the end of the year.

The main changes proposed in the Bill are the introduction of new non-judicial debt settlement systems.

• Debt Relief Certificates which will deal with unsecured debts of less than €20,000.
• Debt Settlement Arrangements which will deal with unsecured debts of greater than €20,000.
• Personal Insolvency Arrangements which will allow for secured debts of up to €3m to be restructured.

The changes expected will see the creation of the Insolvency Service and the licensing of Personal Insolvency Trustees to oversee the above processes.

A significant change proposed is the reduction of the bankruptcy period from 12 years to 3 years.

It is likely that this reduction will incentivise all parties to participate in the schemes in an attempt to achieve a fair balance to creditors improving their return and debtors resolving their insolvency issue and thus avoiding bankruptcy.

Jimmy Dolan is Partner in OSK Audit.