THE ORGANISATION WHOSE budget guidelines were used as the model for the insolvency guidelines published yesterday have issued a statement saying that the final figures used were “an adapted version”.

The Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice (VPSJ) – formed in 1996 to work for social and economic change tackling poverty and exclusion – said that it welcomed the publication of the Insolvency Service of Ireland’s (ISI) guidelines on Reasonable Living Expenses.

The group said, however, that the ISI model was “an adapted version of the Minimum Essential Budget Standards data” and that it had been altered to “what the ISI regards as appropriate to the context of personal insolvency.”

The statement marked for particular attention the following section of the guidelines:

The figures used in these guidelines have unique application to personal insolvency and are not intended to be used for purposes other than the stated purposes of these guidelines under the Act.

The VPSJ also said that the budget numbers were different to the expenditure and income data available on www.budgeting.ie and the results produced by the Minimum Income Standards calculator www.MISc.ie.

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