Private bank debt - Injustice adds to pain and delays cure

By this time next week we will know how the Government proposes to take another €3.5bn out of this faltering economy.

Most of us will have, by then, worked out how Budget 2013 will impact on our ability to satisfy our family’s expectations and entitlements. However, speculation has been so disheartening that many of us may leave consideration of how we will precisely cope with the cuts for another day.

This €3.5bn figure, along with the €25bn already paid through spending cuts and increased taxes since the financial collapse, represents another life-changing levy imposed on a population weary of retrenchment and misery, resurgent emigration, falling living standards and most of all, unemployment rates touching 15%.