The Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation is calling for a complete overhaul of insolvency legislation.

The group is welcoming the announcement from the Taoiseach that the bankruptcy period will be reduced to one year by the end of 2015.

But the organisation's David Hall has said more needs to be done: “There needs to be an overhaul of the entire insolvency legislation,

“It is absolutely horrifically prescriptive, it is a privatised system, there is no public insolvency service in the state.

“It is a bizarre situation that you cannot avail of a free insolvency service for a personal insolvency arrangement or a debt settlement arrangement.”