The Insolvency Service of Ireland welcomes the Personal Insolvency Bill 2020

The ISI welcomes the Personal insolvency (Amendment) (No. 1) Bill 2020. The new legislation will make a small number of important changes to the law on personal insolvency to deal with the effects of COVID-19. The ISI expects that other important changes to the personal insolvency legislation will follow soon in a second Bill.

This Bill will make it easier for a debtor to qualify for a Debt Relief Notice, provide for virtual meetings between debtors and insolvency advisors, and make it possible for people who have gone into mortgage arrears because of COVID-19 to seek a court review of their proposed arrangement if creditors vote against it.

Currently, where a debtor seeks help and obtains a protective certificate, creditors cannot contact them or pursue debts for 70 days. The Bill provides for a court to extend that 70-day period by a further 40 days in exceptional circumstances.

The Bill also makes it easier for a debtor to qualify for a Debt Relief Notice, under which people with few assets and little spare income can have debts up to €35,000 written-off. It will also enable a Personal Insolvency Practitioner to delegate more tasks to a member of their staff or a colleague including, for example, chairing a meeting of creditors.

Commenting on the Bill, Michael McNaughton, Director of the ISI said:

"These are important and very welcome changes to our existing personal insolvency legislation in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak. We look forward to working with the Minister and her Department to supplement these changes with the further reforms contemplated in our submissions made under section 141 of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak there were many people who were struggling with unsustainable debts and the economic impact of COVID-19 has only exacerbated these issues and created new debt problems for others. I want to reassure all of these people that help is available and I encourage anyone requiring assistance to visit backontrack.ie for more information."

The ISI encourages anyone with serious debt issues to consult a Personal Insolvency Practitioner or an Approved Intermediary, details of which are available on backontrack.ie. People can also freetext GETHELP to 50015 for a call back from the ISI.

In the main the changes:

• make it easier for a debtor to qualify for a Debt Relief Notice
• provide for virtual meetings between debtors and advisors
• make it possible for people who have recently gone into mortgage arrears to seek a court review of their proposed arrangement if creditors vote against it

The Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) is an independent government body set up to help tackle personal debt problems.

A Debt Relief Notice enables an eligible insolvent debtor with limited disposable income and assets to write off his or her qualifying debts of up to €35,000 in circumstances where he/she is insolvent and it is unlikely that his/her financial situation will improve in the next 3 years.

A Debt Settlement Arrangement (DSA) is an insolvency solution for people who have unsecured debts - credit cards, loans, overdrafts and so on A Debt Settlement Arrangement is a formal agreement with creditors that allows for some write off of debt.

A Personal Insolvency Arrangement (PIA) is a formal agreement with all your creditors that will write off some of your unsecured debt and restructure any remaining secured debt.

Bankruptcy is a formal, High Court process for people in debt over €20,000. Before you consider applying for bankruptcy, you must first have explored the alternative solutions to bankruptcy which are contained in the Personal Insolvency Act 2012. If these alternative solutions are not suitable then bankruptcy could be the right solution for you.

For more information about the Insolvency Service of Ireland and the services they offer, visit backontrack.ie.