Professional Certificate in Personal Insolvency Practice

Aoife completed a BA in Psychology at National University of Maynooth followed by a PhD at the School of Psychology, University College Dublin.

In 2014, Aoife was awarded an Enterprise Partnership Scholarship by the Irish Research Council. As a member of the City Colleges faculty, Aoife teaches the Sport and Exercise Psychology, Counselling Psychology and Addiction Studies diplomas.

Alongside her lecturing work, Aoife runs a private psychology practice in South Dublin and sees clients from a range of settings including sport and the corporate world. She is passionate about the benefits of psychology for changing lives and is particularly interested in mental wellbeing, motivation, and performance.

Mel has lectured taxation subjects for ACCA examinations since 1992. He is highly exam focused in his approach, and is admired for his personable, and practical teaching style.

Mel is the author of the well-regarded Kilkenny Tax Publications textbooks and revision kits for TX and ATX which are popular with Tax students throughout the country.

He is also an experienced examiner, having spent several years as examiner for the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ireland and the Irish Tax Institute.

LL.B. (NUI), LL.M. (Dubl.), BL (King’s Inns), Dip. Education Law (Law Society), Dip. Construction Law (Law Society), Accredited Mediator.

Conor Duff BL is the Head of the Law Faculty at City College Dublin and a practising barrister. He completed his LL.B. degree at Maynooth University, where he was awarded first-class honours, followed by an LL.M. at Trinity College Dublin, where he also received first-class honours with distinction. He is a graduate of the King’s Inns, having undertaken the Barrister-at-Law degree. Conor was awarded a prize by the Law Society of Ireland for achieving the highest result in the Diploma in Education Law. He also holds a Diploma in Construction Law and is an accredited mediator. He has published multiple peer-reviewed journal articles in legal publications.

Conor lectures in Constitutional Law, Company Law, and European Union Law for students preparing for the FE-1 examinations. He has previously taught at the Law Society of Ireland, the Honorable Society of King’s Inns, and Maynooth University, teaching both third-level and professional law students. He was a finalist for the Irish Law Awards’ “Legal Educator of the Year,” having been nominated by his FE-1 students. Conor has taught thousands of FE-1 candidates, many of whom have gone on to win awards for achieving the highest marks in the subjects he teaches.

Ross Maguire is a Senior Counsel. He is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and the Kings Inns. He founded New Beginning in 2010 to help people in mortgage distress. He was awarded Barrister of the Year at the Irish Law
Awards in 2012.

Ross has been involved in most of the main banking related cases coming before the Courts over the past 5 years and has been a frequent contributor on national media in areas concerning debt.

Ross has worked with the government on the preparation and implementation of the new Personal Insolvency legislation.

Mitchell is a founder and principal partner of the personal insolvency practice ‘IRS IRELAND’. He is a person authorised by the Insolvency Service of Ireland (“ISI”) to carry on practice as a Personal Insolvency Practitioner (“PIP”) since 13th August 2013 [ISI Authorisation No. PC00001].

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Financial Services from Waterford Institute of Technology. He holds certification in Personal Insolvency Practice from both the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland
and the National College of Ireland, and certification in Project Management from Waterford Institute of Technology.

He is a member of the ISI’s Debt Solutions Protocol Steering Group (“DSPSG”) which was responsible for developing and agreeing the Debt Settlement Arrangement (“DSA”) and Personal Insolvency Arrangement (“PIA”) Protocols. He is a member of the current Debt Solutions Protocols Oversight Committee.

Mitchell is a member of the Consultative Forum on the Operational Effectiveness of the ISI reporting to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, and a Member of Association of Personal Insolvency Practitioners (“APIP”), and a Committee Member in the years 2013 to 2017.

Mitchell lectures in Personal Insolvency Practice in City Colleges and in the Law Society on their ISI recognised PIP Diploma courses. He has also lectured on the National College of Ireland PIP Diploma course.

He has advised the Irish Government on Personal Insolvency matters, including matters that gave rise to the introduction of the section 115A Court Review process introduced in the Personal Insolvency Amendment Act 2015; and separately the Cypriot Government in the introduction of their Personal Insolvency regime.

In the area of PIP practice, he has facilitated hundreds of PIAs and DSA applications, including a significant number of PIAs approved in section 115A(9) applications in the Circuit Courts, and on appeal to the High Court.

Separate to PIA and DSA applications, he has facilitated greater than 160 applications by Debtors for self-adjudication in Bankruptcy.

IRS IRELAND is an approved intermediary authorised by the ISI to facilitate applications for Debt Relief Notices (“DRN”), making IRS IRELAND one of just three PIP Practices authorised to facilitate each of the four ISI overseen statutory debt relief schemes provided for in the Personal Insolvency Acts 2012-2015 (“the Act”/“the 2012 Act”).

Tara is the Managing Director & Owner of ACO Financial & Business Solutions Ltd. She is a qualified Accountant certified by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland and a qualified Tax Consultant registered with the Taxation Institute of Ireland.

She has a diploma in Business Development & Strategy from the IMI in additional to a Master of Arts in Training & Education. Tara is authorised by the insolvency Service of Ireland to carry on practice as a Personal Insolvency Practitioner and is currently one of the leading PIPs in Ireland.

Tara has over 20 years’ experience in Accounting & Finance and has an in-depth knowledge of & hands on experience in Management & Strategy, and Personal Insolvency. ACO Financial & Business Solutions Ltd are also one of the leading training providers to the Association of Insolvency Practitioners “APIP” and we are renowned for our knowledge, expertise and experience in the field of Personal Insolvency.

Keith is a graduate of The National University of Ireland, Galway where he graduated with a BA (Law and Politics) and LL.B (First Class Honours) whilst also maintaining a sports (rugby) scholarship (having played rugby for Connacht and Ireland, and GAA for Sligo) for the four-year duration of his studies.

Keith is also a First-Class Honours Master of Laws (LL.M) graduate of Trinity College Dublin, having been awarded a First-Class Honour in recognition of his thesis entitled “Bankruptcy in Ireland – The Personal Insolvency Act 2012 and the role of Alternative Dispute Resolution”.

Keith is a graduate of The Honourable Society of King’s Inns and a practicing Barrister. He has a general civil practice, specialising in personal insolvency law and bankruptcy.

Co-author of the “Consolidated Bankruptcy and Personal Insolvency Legislation”, published by Thomson Reuters Round Hall in December 2013. This book was nominated for the “Practical Law Book of the Year” Award by the Dublin Solicitors Bar Association in March 2014.

Keith lectured in the Law Society of Ireland, the National College of Ireland, City Colleges and Griffith College on their Personal Insolvency (PIP) and Bankruptcy Law courses. Keith briefed the Troika (European Commission, International Monetary Fund, and European Central Bank) on Irish insolvency law and mortgage arrears during their review following Ireland’s exit from the bailout.

Keith briefed the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform of Dáil Éireann (Irish Government) prior to their hearings on “Matters Relating to Mortgage Arrears Resolution Processes”.

Keith has to date advised a number of European Governments on their insolvency and bankruptcy law reforms.

Bill Holohan is unique among Irish solicitors, a fact recognised by the September 2020 decision of the Irish Government to award him a Patent of Precedence as result of which he became one of the first group of solicitors in Ireland to become a Senior Counsel Solicitor. Prior to this he had also been appointed by the Chief Justice of Ireland as a Notary Public, and was also an Irish and EU Trade Mark Practitioner and Intellectual Property Attorney.

As a senior and experienced legal practitioner in professional practice for nearly 40 years, and as the author nine legal textbooks in the areas of Professional Practice, Commercial Law, Bankruptcy, Personal Insolvency and Insurance/Professional Negligence, Bill Holohan had no difficulty in satisfying all criteria.

Over his career he has been awarded multiple awards including the Irish Franchise Association Award for Franchise Person of the Year (2007), (the only service professional ever so honoured), the Irish Law Awards award for Alternative Dispute Resolution Practitioner of the year (2013) as well as his firm having been awarded the Irish Law Awards award for Best Law Firm of the year (2017) as well as a host of other industry awards.

He has also, in addition to many other roles, served as Secretary, later Treasurer and finally as Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators; Director & Council member of the Mediators Institute of Ireland; Founder member and Council member of the Irish Society of Insolvency Practitioners; and currently serves as Council Member of the Law Society of Ireland; Member of the Charity Appeals Tribunal, (Ministerial appointment); and Member of the Complaints Adjudication Panel for Personal Insolvency Practitioners (Ministerial Appointment – two terms).

Ronan qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1998 with Price Waterhouse. Subsequently he worked with Andersons and Ernst & Young in the UK, US and Europe. He is a licensed UK Insolvency Practitioner and Irish Personal Insolvency Practitioner with extensive personal and corporate experience.

Having worked on large solvency assignments for financial services firms in the UK he returned to Ireland to join McCambridge Duffy in 2005. Over the years he has advised on thousands of assignments taking formal insolvency appointments in over 5,000 cases.

He is a member of R3, the UK Association of Business Recovery Professionals, Insol International, the International Association of Restructuring, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Professionals, the Irish Society of Insolvency Practitioners and a Fellow of Association of Credit Professionals.

Ronan sits on the Chartered Accountants Ireland’s Insolvency Technical Committee – ITC North and on the Insolvency Service of Ireland’s Protocol Oversight Committee and Consultative Forum.

Tom qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA) in 1997 whilst working with Chase Manhattan Bank. Tom has over 20 years’ experience in accounting and business roles.

Before moving into Corporate Recovery and Insolvency with Friel Stafford in 2003, Tom developed wide ranging experience in finance roles with a number of leading financial institutions in a number of diverse areas including Corporate Treasury, Corporate Finance and Corporate Accounting.

He is one of Ireland’s most experienced corporate recovery and turnaround practitioners and was one of the first Personal Insolvency Practitioners licensed in Ireland.

He also is an experienced Corporate Financier with particular interest and expertise in the area of equity and debt fund raising, and the buying and selling of businesses.

He has extensive experience of all areas of Litigation Support and Expert witness. He has worked with private clients, SMEs, national companies, multi-nationals, county councils and various Government and Regulatory agencies in defending and bringing proceedings.

He is heavily involved with the ACCA accountancy body and is a past President of ACCA Ireland. He represented ACCA Ireland at the ACCA International Assembly in 2011. He was nominated in January 2021 by ACCA to represent it on the CCABI insolvency Committee.

He is engaged by the three leading Accountancy bodies in Ireland as a lecturer for their CPD (Continuous Professional Development) in Corporate Recovery, Insolvency and Personal Bankruptcy. Tom has written and presented two of the six modules in the Diploma in Insolvency run by Chartered Accountants Ireland.

He has contributed technical articles on Corporate Recovery and Insolvency for the magazines of the
three leading Accountancy bodies in Ireland. He is currently writing a monthly column in this area for Accounting and Business Ireland – the magazine of ACCA Ireland.

He was asked to make numerous media appearance as an Insolvency expert and has appeared on RTE’s main news bulletins, TV3, Sky News, Newstalk and Today FM for comments on insolvency issues and business matters.

He is also a member of The Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland, has a diploma in Forensic Accounting and is a Certified Mediator. He is authorised to act as a Personal Insolvency Practitioner by the Insolvency Service of Ireland.