145.— Section 11 of the Bankruptcy Act 1988 is amended—

(a) in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) by the substitution of “amounts to more than €20,000” for “amounts to €1,900 or more”, and

(b) by the substitution of the following for subsection (3):

“(3) Subject to subsections (4) and (5) a debtor may petition for adjudication against himself.

(4) A debtor may not present a petition for adjudication unless the petition is accompanied by an affidavit sworn by the debtor that he has, prior to presenting the petition, made reasonable efforts to reach an appropriate arrangement with his creditors relating to his debts by making a proposal for a Debt Settlement Arrangement or a Personal Insolvency Arrangement to the extent that the circumstances of the debtor would permit him to enter into such an arrangement.

(5) A debtor may not present a petition for adjudication unless the petition is accompanied by a statement of affairs and such statement of affairs discloses that the debts of the debtor exceed the assets of the debtor by any amount greater than €20,000.”.