Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

With your indulgence, I wish to address the money issue. There are a number of issues for people who have problems with money. Shortage of money is one. Lack of knowledge of how to deal with debt is another, in addition to a lack of knowledge of the law if one is in debt. People succumb to pressure because they do not know how to handle debt or do not know their rights. Advice and services such as MABS are incredibly important. Some people run out of money to maintain their gas and electricity supplies and we must deal with that problem.

It is a cross-departmental issue. That is the reason we have made all this investment in community development projects, partnerships and so forth. They can get through to the people in the communities. There is a huge role for the credit unions here. It is the people's bank. It is in the community and owned by the community. They cannot simply give the money away but they have a role in social banking. They have already played a huge role but we must examine new ways of dealing with that problem. It is a frightening problem for people who are in debt to moneylenders and others.

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