Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I usually do not make a request until the end of my speech but I urge the Minister of State to withdraw his amendment. As Deputy Martin Kenny said, the amendment will not be accepted anyway as the Government will not have enough support. The reason I ask is because I want to take a different angle on tonight’s debate.

I congratulate Deputy Pearse Doherty on introducing the Bill. Poverty and debt and the compounding of poverty through debt are literally killing people. I want to talk about the effect debt is having on mental health and the need to regulate to mitigate that effect. The real response however is to eradicate poverty. That is Sinn Féin’s objective and should be the objective of any Government or confidence and supply agreement worth its salt.

According to Mental Health Ireland, debt can be a considerable burden. It can cause anxiety and seriously affect our sleep, which has many knock-on effects. It can affect our mood and energy levels and many other areas of life such as family and career. Mental Health Ireland notes that all of these things can in turn contribute to a person's debt problem, so the cycle continues and worsens. Ireland clearly has a serious problem with debt. The root cause of this problem is the poverty which is going unchecked by this Government and the inability to provide affordable housing and other basic services. Poverty destroys people's mental health.

Last year, a Samaritans report found that inequality was driving people to suicide. We all know that poverty was the real issue. In turn, through a destructive mix of poverty, debt and mental ill health, whole families and communities are being torn apart. Research on poverty and mental health has found that suicide rates in Ireland are two times higher in the most deprived areas than in the less deprived areas. Low paid workers have higher rates of suicide. People who are unemployed are two to three times more likely to die by suicide than those in employment. Working class men, living in the most deprived areas, are up to ten times more at risk of suicide than those in the highest social class, living in the most affluent areas. As the director of Samaritans Ireland, Deirdre Toner said, each suicide statistic represents a person. An employee on a zero hour contract is somebody's parent or child. A person at risk of losing his or her home may be a sibling or friend and each one of them will leave others devastated and potentially more disadvantaged if they take their own lives. Last week, a report in England found serious links between poverty, debt and suicide. It showed more than 100,000 people a year in England tried to take their lives due to debt.

The severity of the behaviour and the policies of the lenders and their debt collectors was also noted, as was the major impact on the mental health outcome of those who sought to borrow. Many of those in debt and experiencing anxiety, depression or suicidal ideation had borrowed to keep up with essential utility payments and rent. I know that this is very similar to what is going on in this country. We know that the same parasitic vultures operate here, many being British companies. Families all over the country are running up small debts with big interest rates that could be their undoing. They are not doing this out of greed but to have a nice Christmas, put a turkey in the oven and have a few nice presents under the tree for their children. These are not things for which the punishment should be more hardship. If the law does not protect these families, then it is worth nothing. If our society, economy and Governments continue to create these conditions, then they are worth very little.

This is a simple Bill. It will cap interest rates at 36% APR, which still sounds like a lot. We are dealing with the kind of unscrupulous companies which can charge nearly 300% APR and a Government that has allowed them to do it. I ask the Minister of State again please to support this Bill and give peace of mind to those facing debts this Christmas and in 2019.

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