Growing poverty - Enormous challenge

THE huge increase in the number of people seeking the help of debt management or support agencies is testament to our rapidly changing circumstances.

More than 14,000 people have contacted the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) for the first time this year. Poverty campaigners St Vincent de Paul report that calls from newly impoverished people to its Dublin office have increased by almost 40% over last year. The organisation says its offices around the country are dealing with a similar increase in demand.

MABS also revealed the average debt owed by new clients is €11,600, compared with €7,600 in 2007.

The figures are startling but what is equally startling is how quickly lives can change in the face of a collapsing economy.

This is the economic reality of today and, much as we might wish to, we can no longer pretend that each one of us is not going to be affected by the recession in some way. If these trends continue class sizes will seem a minor issue. Maybe it’s time we all began to accept the enormity of the challenges facing us all.