More than a third of personal insolvency practitioners (Pips) have quit the profession when their authorisations expired this year. The high dropout rate comes as three out of six specialist insolvency judges were reassigned to other Circuit Court duties because the government decided they were underused in their current roles.
Debtors have largely bypassed insolvency as a solution to their money problems because creditors are able to veto arrangements that they consider too lenient.
Just 180 personal insolvency arrangements were approved in the third quarter of this year — a volume that has not grown since the insolvency regime was introduced in 2013.
Pips are authorised for three-year terms by the Insolvency Service of Ireland, which had licensed 95 by the end of 2013, its first year in operation. It has confirmed that just 60 Pips have reapplied following the expiry of their authorisations.