Struggling families forced further into debt to survive

PEOPLE struggling to make ends meet are being forced deeper into debt in greater numbers, with cases getting more complicated “by the week”.

This was the view of a broad network of consumer and financial support services who appeared before an Oireachtas committee on social and family affairs to lay bare the country’s debt problems.

Debt-ridden families who seek state help have clocked up on average €8,000 on their credit cards, the committee was told.