Surge in debt-related queries to free advice centre

THE number of debt-related queries such as rent and mortgage arrears, arrears to estate management companies and repossession proceedings have risen by almost a half (45%) in a year, the Free Legal Advice Centre (FLAC) has said.

The extent of the debt crisis is once again laid bare in the organisation’s annual report, which says that although family law is still its largest area of enquiry a significant proportion of calls have a debt element to them, even where debt was not the primary reason for the call.

Since 2007, there has been a dramatic increase in debt-related queries, from 153 in 2007 to 787 in 2010 — a 400% rise.

The report shows that, out of 10,967 queries:

* Family law accounted for 24%.

* Social welfare 34%.

* Debt queries 9.4%.

* Employment law 8.7%.

In relation to employment law, data collected from specialist employment law centres show that, similar to debt, the most common queries reflect Ireland’s struggling economy.

One quarter of employment law queries were about dismissal, 17% were about redundancy and 22% were about contract terms.

Specialist immigration legal advice centres reported that 37% of queries were about naturalisation, 19% about visas and 10% about family reunification. This is consistent with the pattern from 2009. Other areas discussed in the immigration centres include: work permits, EU treaty rights, permission to remain in Ireland, asylum, non-EU citizen entitlements and deportation orders.

According to FLAC director-general Noeline Blackwell and chairman Peter Ward, last year was one of the most challenging years in the history of the State as the economic crisis and recession led to severe budget cuts and further restrictions on people’s access to credit.

The FLAC chiefs said that although its reports in 2003 and 2009 had warned about the dangers of widespread credit without proper assessment of capacity to repay and the dangers of light-touch regulation, it had unfortunately taken a crisis for the issue to be addressed.

“Those who had already been marginalised and excluded have been placed under even more pressure than they had been, even during the years of apparent plenty,” they said.

“The resultant insecurity and feeling of helplessness that many feel are every bit as real and as problematic for people as their actual financial or job situations. In these circumstances, we need to focus afresh on the rights of those in need and ensure adequate mechanisms to allow people to deal with their problems effectively and with dignity.”

FLAC said pressure on all of its services has increased enormously, both in the numbers who seek help and in the complexity of their problems, and paid tribute to those “constantly and expertly” providing services while working under significant pressure.