Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

People have a social obligation to pay their bills and taxes and settle their debts because if they do not do so, they pass those bills and costs onto society and onto other people. That is why they have a moral obligation to do the right thing. I appreciate there will be individual circumstances where people cannot pay for one reason or another. Whether the HSE uses debt collection agencies or collects the debts directly, it needs to be sensitive of that. Even in the most difficult circumstances it is usually possible to agree some form of payment scheme, even if it is over a long number of years and people should do that.

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