Reform far-reaching

Justice Minister Alan Shatter published the long-awaited Personal Insolvency Bill yesterday.

Under the terms of the EU/IMF bailout, the Government was required to introduce new measures to deal with personal and mortgage debt.

The legislation, which amounts to a comprehensive reform of insolvency law, proposes to reduce the period of bankruptcy from 12 years to three years. It further proposes to establish a new, non-judicial debt resolution process.