Government must act to assist young people in debt

12.00.00am GMT Fri 3rd Feb 2006

North Down Alliance Councillor Ian James Parsley has said Government must legislate to assist young people entering the workforce get out of debt.

Cllr Parsley, who chairs the party's youth wing and serves on the committee of Holywood Citizens' Advice Bureau, stated: "Soaring rates of personal debt are causing severe disruption to families, careers and personal finances across Northern Ireland, and the situation is only

getting worse.

"The Government has caused this problem by encouraging more and more personal spending to prop up a declining economic situation. It is therefore impossible to take Government's calls for people to start saving seriously. People affected by spiralling personal debt are being used as cover for failed economic policies focusing solely on retail and public sector spending, not just in Northern Ireland but right across the UK.

"Specifically, young people are being hit by this problem. This should be no surprise, since our most academically able young people are being forced to go into debt just to get a proper third-level education. It is totally unacceptable that people should have to start their professional career with five-figure debts. Throw in spiralling house prices, rising electricity costs and five-figure wedding fees, and the prospects for people below 30 to clear debt are bleak.

"As it caused the problem, Government must solve it. We would call on Government to implement three fundamental changes of policy direction to assist this problem: stronger regulation of credit companies to make credit harder to come by; abolition of tuition fees to give young people a fair start; and focus on promoting jobs in manufacturing and services

rather than solely on employment in state-funded sectors or retail to encourage saving.

"Debts cause family breakdown, career difficulties and, on occasions, severe and genuine mental health problems. This simply cannot go on. This is no time for platitudes and populism - the interventions we have outlined must be taken seriously at ministerial level."

ENDS