Homeowners facing bankruptcy as a result of mortgage difficulties are being invited to outline their plight in online submissions expected to be viewed by Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald.

The new initiative by the Dáil’s justice committee comes after the Government referred a proposal to reduce the bankruptcy term from three years to one to a cross-party group of TDs and Senators recently.

Committee chairman David Stanton of Fine Gael said people had from Tuesday until 3pm on Friday, June 19th to give their opinion on reducing the period of bankruptcy by following a link on the homepage of www.oireachtas.ie.

Mr Stanton said a broad range of submissions, “both in favour and against such a reduction”, were expected and would inform the committee’s ongoing discussions on the topic.

The committee may invite individuals or groups to public hearings to discuss particular submissions in detail.

Positive response

On foot of this public process, the committee is expected to publish a report on the submissions received and any public hearings, which will be presented to the Minister for Justice and laid before both the Dáil and Seanad.

There was a broadly positive response to the Government’s announcement of a major overhaul of the State’s insolvency system last month. However, there was disappointment in some quarters that shortening the bankruptcy period from three years to one was not included in the mortgage arrears package.

The move had been championed by Labour Longford-Westmeath TD Willie Penrose, and was backed by the Labour parliamentary party but opposed by the Department of Finance.