The Tanaiste says she is not happy with the length of the period of bankruptcy in the Personal Insolvency legislation.

Last night the Labour parliamentary party voted unanimously in favour of Deputy Willie Penrose's proposed Amendment to reduce it from 3 to just one year

It also calls for the "follow-on period", which allows creditors recoup debt, to be cut from five years to three.

Tanaiste Joan Burton told Breakfast she hopes the legislation can be reformed in the short term.

Deputy Penrose told Breakfast TDs are aware of the financial difficulties facing people around the country.

He started by telling Ivan about the details of the amendment:

Tánaiste Joan Burton also spoke to Breakfast about the proposals:

Earlier this week, the Dáil debated laws which would remove the right of banks to veto any insolvency arrangements.

Fianna Fáil claimed insolvency judges are sitting idle because banks are stopping cases from coming before them.

The government opposed the bill because it believes it could be unconstitutional.

The Taoiseach says he will not change the law on insolvencies to remove the veto from banks but he has admitted that banks are not doing enough to help customers who are two years or more behind on their mortgage repayments.

He told the Dáil that around 50,000 mortgages were restructured in the last eighteen months.