Financial distress - Vulnerable people face waiting list

The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (Mabs) was established to advice people in financial distress.

People would not normally go to strangers for such advice without being close to desperation, but when they do go they are faced with protracted delays before they actually get to meet anyone.

Society has been turning a blind eye to some of the more extreme problems. A coroner yesterday stated that suicide has almost reached “contagion levels” in west Limerick, but suicides are not being recorded as such. Thus, the real extent of the problem is being obscured, because there is no legal framework for recognising suicide.