There has been significant development in the collection of civil debts as the Government recently approved the drafting of the Civil Debt (Procedures) Bill,

The proposals will implement a number of recommendations of the Law Reform Commission (LRC) in relation to the enforcement of debt. The Law Reform Commission Report published in 2010 on Personal Debt Management and Debt Enforcement made a number of recommendations for wide scale reform of the existing personal insolvency and debt enforcement regimes. Key elements of that Report were implemented through enactment of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012. The new Bill seeks to implement further recommendations of the Report aimed at enforcement and recovery of debts which could be developed to streamline the existing enforcement procedures.

Under the proposed Civil Debt (Procedures) Bill, creditors may apply to the Court for an order enabling either attachment of earnings or deductions from social welfare payments, as appropriate, for the purpose of enforcement of debt. These provisions would be subject to a number of safeguards. The Bill will also make provision to provide for the abolition of imprisonment of debtors except in the case of maintenance arising from family law proceedings.