FOR THE next 12 months Seán Quinn cannot ask friend, foe or bank manager to lend him even £500 without declaring he is a bankrupt.

Once you are made bankrupt in Northern Ireland, you cannot seek credit of £500 or more without revealing your status.

Mr Quinn, like the more than 1,200 other people who have gone bankrupt in the North so far this year, will also have had to hand over his cheque books and credit cards to a civil servant known as the Official Receiver who will act as his trustee in bankruptcy.

For a man who once had access to apparently unlimited resources Seán Quinn may find life as bankrupt, which legally strips you of any control over any assets, somewhat more challenging.

There is nothing to prevent him from being self-employed so he could start a new business subject to restrictions but a percentage of what he might earn could be seized by his trustee. He would also be legally obliged to tell anyone he does business with that he was made bankrupt in the North and he would not be permitted to carry on a business in a different name.

Furthermore during his 12-month period as a bankrupt Mr Quinn will not be allowed to “promote, form or manage” a limited company in Northern Ireland. Bankrupts are also prohibited from holding certain public offices such as a trustee of a charity or a pension fund.

As it stands now any creditor to whom he owes money must make a claim to the trustee.

Under bankruptcy rules Mr Quinn’s personal pension is untouchable as a trustee cannot claim a pension as an asset but any interest he may have in a life assurance policy is up for grabs. According to the Department of Enterprise the trustee may be “entitled to sell or surrender the policy and collect any proceeds on behalf” of creditors.