Following the enactment of the Personal Insolvency Act, the first steps have been taken to implement the new regime in the Irish insolvency landscape with the making of two Ministerial Orders by the Minister for Justice, Mr. Alan Shatter.
The Orders set 1 March 2013 as the establishment date for the Insolvency Service of Ireland which will operate the new debt resolution arrangements provided for in the Act. The Commencement Orders also enables the Insolvency Service to begin authorising approved intermediaries and personal insolvency practitioners.
The Minister for Justice and Equality has brought more provisions of the Insolvency Act 2012 (the Act) into force and has designated 1 March 2013 as the establishment day of the Insolvency Service of Ireland.
Under the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 (Commencement) (No. 2) Order 2013, the following provisions of the Act came into operation on 1 March 2013:
The Ward and Anderson families have been involved in the cinema business in Ireland for over sixty years. Several of the families’ principal cinema assets were operated through a jointly–owned company, Dublin Cinema Group Ltd (DCG). Following a number of disagreements over the years, including the bringing of a derivative action for alleged beach of fiduciary duty against one of the company directors, a petition to wind up the company was brought before the Commercial Court in January 2013.
A recent High Court decision has further demonstrated that failure to comply with the Code of Conduct of Mortgage Arrears (the “Code”) is likely to result in the court refusing to grant an order for possession.
Summary
The Minister for Justice and Equality has made an order which sets the 18th day of January, 2013, as the date on which Part 6 (Specialist Judges of the Circuit Court) of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 comes into operation.
Legislation enabling the immediate liquidation of IBRC (formerly Anglo Irish Bank) was signed into law in the early hours of 7 February. Draft legislation was published on 6 February following media speculation that the Irish Government was preparing plans to liquidate IBRC and was promptly brought before both Houses of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). The Minister for Finance stated that immediate action was necessary in order to prevent any action being taken which could have put IBRC’s assets at risk.
How will it impact on pensions?
Under the Bankruptcy Act 1988, the general rule is that all property “belonging” to a person adjudicated bankrupt on the date of adjudication vested in the Official Assignee. The extent to which this rule extended to pension assets depended on the type of pension vehicle the person being declared bankrupt participated in and the actual terms of the pension scheme or policy.
The 1988 Act has now been amended to include detailed and prescriptive provisions relating to the treatment of pension assets on bankruptcy.
The Finance Bill 2013 introduces a number of provisions that impact on the VAT treatment of transactions involving liquidators, receivers and mortgagees in possession (the “Insolvency Practitioners”). These provisions were largely expected following the consultation process on the tax implications of appointing a receiver which has been ongoing since July 2012.
Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Act and Appointment of Special Liquidators
In the early hours of 7 February 2013, the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Act 2013 (the “IBRC Act”) was passed. The IBRC Act provides for the Minister for Finance to make a “Special Liquidation Order” (“SLO”) winding up IBRC. As a result of the SLO: