David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

If things are so good in Ireland, why are more and more people being forced to go to MABS for advice on financial and budgeting matters? Is the Minister concerned about the rising levels of personal debt? Does he agree with the consumer debt surveys carried out by the IIB Bank and ESRI in 2005 and 2006 which show that personal debt among Irish consumers increased by 11% between 2005 and 2006 to an average personal debt level, excluding mortgages, of €6,000? Is the Minister concerned about this finding?

Has the Minister any comments to make about people in employment who are forced to MABS, in other words, the working poor? Has he any figures relating to these people? Is the Government concerned about the total number of new clients who have gone to MABS — more than 10,000 this year — and that out of a total debt of €64 million, the average personal debt is over €6,000 per person? Does the Minister agree that his policies are not working? If they were working, fewer, rather than greater, numbers of people would be forced to go to MABS and fewer numbers of people would be in poverty. Yet the trend has gone the other way. Does the Minister agree that the increase in interest rates and house, gas and electricity prices, many of them Government-driven, are also having an impact? What plans does the Minister have for addressing these issues and helping these people, many of whom are young people with families who are struggling to survive?

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