Ireland’s debt crisis - New ideas are needed

AS the debate about Ireland’s mortgage crisis intensifies, figures published yesterday show how terrible this crisis has become for thousands of Irish individuals and families.

In the first six months of the year more than 13,000 people approached MABS, the state-funded debt advice service, because their personal finances were out of control.

This startling figure represents nearly a 33% increase in the client base in a very short time. It is even more worrying when the MABS policy, reiterated yesterday, is not to offer anyone support unless they are in the most difficult circumstances.

No one really knows how or when these terrible issues will be resolved but it is clear that some new way of doing things will have to be found because it is more depressing than is tolerable to have to accept that so many people might have to spend years carrying the weight of debts incurred in what can only be described as a different universe.