Shatter bid to stop ‘bankruptcy tourism’

Justice Minister Alan Shatter is trying to eliminate abuses of bankruptcy laws in other countries through proposals for modernising EU-wide insolvency legislation.

Irish property developers have attracted widespread criticism over the past few years for availing of much more lenient bankruptcy laws in the UK in what has been described as “bankruptcy tourism”.

Mr Shatter said he had arranged that the initial discussion on the proposed regulation took place at the informal Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting of EU justice ministers held in Dublin Castle on Jan 17 and 18.