One of the countries biggest charities the St Vincent De Paul have said they are growing deeply concerned at the amount of struggling families who are turning to money lenders in order to cope with Christmas debt.
The charity has made the announcement after media reports that a petrol bomb attack on a Waterford family home was carried out after the family allegedly used the services of a local money lender.
In a statement released to the press the Social Justice Officer for the Vincent de Pail Brendan Hennessy, said: “The fear of St Vincent de Paul members around Christmas is not so much Christmas time itself, it’s post-Christmas when people find themselves having to go to money lenders and so forth to meet basic needs. “Our encouragement to people is to try to use whatever means they have at the present, if that’s possible at all. He went onto say: “But also coming up to Christmas to recognsze that this has become a very expensive country to live in and we all must measure our expectations with that in mind.”