Confronting debt - A crisis we must work to resolve

FOR an honest person, and despite all of the evidence most Irish people are honest, unmanageable, out-of-control debt is a real nightmare.

It is the cause of tension, sleepless nights and the kind of stress that undermines long-standing, loving relationships and families.

In a society so obsessed by property and appearances — status anxiety as it’s called elsewhere — the intervention of a lender in the day-to-day affairs of a business or household because debt obligations cannot be met represents the kind of personal and social failure unimaginable in other societies. Here it’s a life-defining crisis, in other countries it’s recognised that there’s little option but to be realistic, shake off the dust and start again.