Poor Debt Recovery Regime in Ireland

Ireland is a more difficult place to do business than it need be due to our current debt recovery process, according to Michael McDowell, Minister for Justice.

The comment was made at a seminar jointly hosted by Matheson Ormsby Prentice and the Irish Institute of Credit Management in the Radisson Hotel Dublin, on Tuesday, 19 October 2004.

In anticipation of the EU’s new draft regulation on a European Order for Payment becoming law, the seminar focused on how the new EU regime will impact on debt recovery and consumer credit in Ireland.

In his address, Minister McDowell acknowledged that reform of the debt recovery process is now overdue and insisted that a review of current debt recovery legislation is a matter of priority for the Government. He added that logically, this appraisal should run concurrently with the implementation of the draft European Order for Payment Regulation, which is expected to be put into practice in the next eighteen months.

Frank Nowlan, Head of the Debt Management and Recovery Group at Matheson Ormsby Prentice said that if Irish business is to hold its competitive edge both nationally and internationally, “we must act sooner rather than later to overhaul Ireland’s current debt recovery procedure. It is unacceptable that Irish companies continue to face significant delays in terms of recouping monies owed to them,” he said.