There's to be no relief for people suffering unaffordable indebtedness from this Fianna Fail led Government.
Faced with a social disaster tens of thousands of Irish citizens were consigned to near permanent second class status by Minister Dermot Ahern yesterday. Commenting at the launch of the Law Reform Commissions interim report on personal debt and debt management the Minister appeared to rule out any prospect of a just, fair and equitable response to what has become a social disaster.
RTE reported that speaking in Dublin, Dermot Ahern said debt was money owed to somebody, and it was not for the Government to pass laws saying the debt was not there anymore. But the Minister added that the Government would try to ensure that people having problems paying debts would be looked at favourably.
A senior member of previous Governments responsible for the biggest credit bubble in modern history, Ahern’s reported comments show scant concern for a just and fair society. Did anyone explain to the Minister that tens of thousands of households have no chance of paying back what they owe? Did anyone explain the economic and social costs to society? Or that people commit suicide as they lose all hope in ever living decent lives again? If they did then Ahern appears to believe that Government has no role in allowing for a safety net or at least the prospect of earning a discharge from unaffordable debt.
Humane societies and their legislatures ensure that over indebted citizens are not consigned to a live a life-time with unaffordable debt. They realise that sometimes honest, hard working good people cannot afford to repay what they owe. They realise that people have to be given the opportunity to once again become productive members of society and they realise the social costs of not providing a safety net are horrendous.
Not so this Government whose response to the little guy has been to continue to criminalise non-payment of debt. Under Irish law a person can still be jailed to non-payment of debt. There is no non-judicial debt settlement and resolution system as found in other countries. Elsewhere humane laws provide for systems of earned forgiveness through which a person pays what they can and the balance is written off over time. The only option here, personal bankruptcy, means people can remain bankrupt for the rest of their lives.
The statistics are telling: 350,000 people in negative equity, €180bn+ in personal debt of which €145bn is mortgage debt. 30,000+ households have had to negotiate debt relief mostly switching temporarily to interest only loans, thousands of new unemployed are applying for mortgage interest relief, suicides have been linked to indebtedness, joblessness effects 450,000 people, banks are reporting increasing and worsening mortgage loan defaults, small business insolvencies are triggering personalisation of business debts. Yet not one jot of reliable consolidated data has been published by Government to demonstrate the extent of unaffordable indebtedness.
The scale of negative equity allied to unemployment and negative income shocks is indicative of a massive social problem that this Government continues to brush under the carpet. It’s not surprising then for Ahern to hold the Dickensian line – you must pay what you owe or else.
No comments:
Post a Comment