ELEVEN debtors made bankrupt during one week in February had combined debts of more than €12m discharged through write-offs or sale of collateral, according to statements of affairs lodged in the courts.
The write-offs, averaging over €1m per borrower, should be a warning to creditors to be more flexible in negotiating debt settlements, said Lorcan O’Connor, director of the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI). “In the absence of creditors’ support for alternative options, debtors will seek bankruptcy,” he said. “Creditors are better off when they work with personal insolvency practitioners [Pips] than when debtors go down the bankruptcy route.”
The number of people seeking bankruptcy has risen since the rules were eased in December to cut the discharge period from 12 to three years. Three