There is light at the end of the tunnel for tens of thousands of Irish families and young adults caught in the horrific vice grip of income collapse and runaway debts, left isolated and alone in hugely imbalanced relationships that exist between powerful Irish and International creditors and powerless Irish debtors. For over three years, consumer voices like FLAC, MABS and New Beginning have shouted and advocated while the State fudged and delayed dealing head on with consumer insolvency for fear of upsetting the banks and the let-them-burn brigade whose voices drowned out advocacy by spreading paranoia and fear about moral hazard. But, at last, the end of three years of phoney extend and pretend is in sight as much of the fine work of the Law Reform Commission bears fruit.

This venerable, strained and battered Republic is emerging from the delusion that something will turn up, that sweeping bad debts under the carpet in deals cooked up by bankers  who stuffed Government committees for the sole purpose of artificially protecting their balance sheets, cannot and will not work. Ireland is to fast-track the introduction of a humane and modern insolvency process. Yesterday Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and Minister for Justice Alan Shatter delivered the first draft of Irish Personal Insolvency law. It’s still a work in progress and there’s much yet to fight for but damn it - they’ve done it and they’ve done it without capitulating to the banks.

Irish debtors, who’d previously been chased down the corridors of a Dickensian court system should shortly be able to deal with their indebtedness in dignity through licensed and regulated Personal Insolvency Trustees. There will be a choice of routes to a fresh start, none of which will involve a court process;

• A simple debt relief certificate for NINAs ( people no income and no assets) for bad debt under twenty grand

• Debt Settlement Arrangements for unsecured loans in distress, to be negotiated by Insolvency Trustees leading to a full discharge after five years

• Personal Insolvency Arrangements administered by Insolvency Trustees that will include residential and investment mortgages where net repayable debt is cleared over six years

There’s much yet to unfold;

• When will the infrastructure, regulations and systems be in place to support what is the birth of a new and diverse financial services industry?

• Precisely how will the new profession of Insolvency Trustee be regulated to ensure its quality and integrity when handling the assets and incomes of tens of thousands of Irish borrowers

• Is The Central Bank willing to compel the credit institutions it regulates to deal fairly with Insolvency Trustees and then to monitor and regulate their adherence to an adjusted Consumer Protection Code?

• Why isn’t there to be an Insolvency Ombudsman to arbitrate on disputes and bind intransigent creditors to insolvency arrangements?

• What will the guideline be to shelter modest lifestyle incomes from creditors?

• What other schemes are being formulated to help distressed Irish debtors restructure without resorting to insolvency, like for example, long term shelving part of residential mortgage debt while awaiting income recovery?

• How close are we to widespread availability of swapping mortgages for rental arrangements?

• Bankruptcy discharge is to fall from 12 years to 3yrs, so why are their provisions to attach to income for 8yrs?

Yes, there are still lots of questions but today is a time for thanking all those who’ve committed time and passion into shaping Ireland’s nascent personal insolvency model, from civil servants to social agencies. The trick now is to back that ambition with the cash and resources needed to move at top speed to rescue as many distressed debtors as we can from the nowhereland economy in which we’ve left them.

Eddie