No change to debt law this year

CHANGES to outdated debt laws will not be made until next year despite the Government admitting the “urgency” of dealing with the plight facing distressed mortgage holders.

There are no plans to fast-track the Personal Insolvency Bill scheduled to be published in the first quarter of 2012, despite claims from the Master of the High Court, Edmund Honohan, that debt forgiveness measures are needed without delay.

Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton said the issue is “top of the agenda” for the Government but that “ultimately, the relationship between banks and the individual borrower is something they have to work through”.