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06/07/2009
Calls For End To Jail Over Debt
A campaign has been launched to end jail terms for those who cannot afford to pay their debts.
The latest report from the Free Legal Advise Centre (FLAC) entitled No-One's Credit, calls for urgent reform of laws in the area, dating from 1926 and 1940, which put 276 people in prison for non-payment of debt in 2008.
The study also looks at how those in serious debt are affected by their experience, with a range of effects associated with falling into debt including family rows, blame, guilt, loss of security, constant worry about the future and the fear of children being taken into care.
Launching the report, Dublin blues singer Mary Coughlan recalled how she lost her house but avoided jail only through a last-minute intervention. "For some people, advice and help comes way too late - we need to make sure this doesn't happen," said Ms Coughlan.
Under current rules, judges may make instalment orders for payment without knowing the current income or circumstances of the debtor and without the debtor ever attending court.
The head of FLAC, Noeline Blackwell, said debt enforcement here has a "devastating and largely pointless human cost".
According to FLAC Senior Policy Researcher, Paul Joyce, the whole process of debt enforcement in Ireland seems designed to exclude the debtor from both understanding and fully taking part in it. "FLAC is proposing a raft of measures which will bring debtors into the procedure and, we believe, will save time and money on legal action. Apart from the risk of individual human rights violations involved, which has been noted by the UN, our penal system does not in any way actually improve the debt problem in Ireland," he said.
The study finds that imprisonment without an accurate assessment of ability to a person’s ability to pay – usually because they do not show up in court – renders the process "fundamentally flawed".
Emergency legislation around debt and imprisonment is set to be debated in the Seanad tomorrow.
(DW/BMcC)
The latest report from the Free Legal Advise Centre (FLAC) entitled No-One's Credit, calls for urgent reform of laws in the area, dating from 1926 and 1940, which put 276 people in prison for non-payment of debt in 2008.
The study also looks at how those in serious debt are affected by their experience, with a range of effects associated with falling into debt including family rows, blame, guilt, loss of security, constant worry about the future and the fear of children being taken into care.
Launching the report, Dublin blues singer Mary Coughlan recalled how she lost her house but avoided jail only through a last-minute intervention. "For some people, advice and help comes way too late - we need to make sure this doesn't happen," said Ms Coughlan.
Under current rules, judges may make instalment orders for payment without knowing the current income or circumstances of the debtor and without the debtor ever attending court.
The head of FLAC, Noeline Blackwell, said debt enforcement here has a "devastating and largely pointless human cost".
According to FLAC Senior Policy Researcher, Paul Joyce, the whole process of debt enforcement in Ireland seems designed to exclude the debtor from both understanding and fully taking part in it. "FLAC is proposing a raft of measures which will bring debtors into the procedure and, we believe, will save time and money on legal action. Apart from the risk of individual human rights violations involved, which has been noted by the UN, our penal system does not in any way actually improve the debt problem in Ireland," he said.
The study finds that imprisonment without an accurate assessment of ability to a person’s ability to pay – usually because they do not show up in court – renders the process "fundamentally flawed".
Emergency legislation around debt and imprisonment is set to be debated in the Seanad tomorrow.
(DW/BMcC)
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