Ahern urged to bring fairness to debt collection

JUSTICE Minister Dermot Ahern has been urged not to waste the opportunity to bring fairness to debt collection rules when he publishes a key legislative amendment tomorrow.

The move comes in response to the judicial ruling in favour of Caroline McCann, in which High Court judge Ms Justice Mary Laffoy ruled it against the law to imprison the Monaghan woman for the non-payment of a debt.

As a result, an amendment to the Enforcement of Court Orders Act has been drafted and is due to be published tomorrow.

Director general of the Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC), Noeline Blackwell, said while the amendment is welcome she is anxiously waiting to see if the text goes far enough.

She said the critical issues will be where the burden of proof will fall and what level is decided in determining whether a debt can be repaid.

“Depending on the text this would be the most useful and significant advances in this area for the past 70 years,” she said.

Ms Blackwell said while the McCann judgement means the change will be a “patch up job”, to find a solution before the Dáil’s summer recess, officials will have been aware of the need to alter the imprisonment provision for some time.

The amendment will mean anybody who cannot pay a debt will have the opportunity to show the court their failure to meet repayments is because they do not have the resources.

The law will allow the judge not to imprison the person, unless they have the means to pay debt but are willfully refusing to do so.

Yesterday, the Department of Justice indicated that while the text is still to be published it will be for each debtor to show the court their failure to pay was not because they chose not to.

The Law Reform Commission is expected to produce a report on this issue later in the year.

And FLAC is planning to publish its own report on the imprisonment of debtors next Monday.

The UN has also criticised Ireland for allowing the threat of jail for civil debts to stay on the statute book.