Insolvency service admits slow start of four write-downs

The Insolvency Service of Ireland has admitted it is off to a slow start after it secured just four mortgage write-downs for hopelessly overburdened debtors in its first seven months in operation.

However, the service defended its performance, saying the number of new cases coming in was growing all the time and that it expected to have thousands of people on its books by this time next year.

ISI director Lorcan O’Connor also said the setting up of the service had prompted informal debt arrangements between financial institutions and defaulting customers they would otherwise refuse to have engaged with.