A DRAMATIC rise in the number of families struggling to meet mortgage repayments is reflected in official figures which show a 60 per increase in the number of people seeking State support.
A total of 6,500 people are now receiving the mortgage interest supplement, a means-tested "safety net" payment to ensure people do not suffer hardship due to loss of employment.
The Department of Social and Family Affairs supplement assists with the interest portion of mortgage repayments only.
The number of people in receipt of the supplement was 3,424 in October 2006, rising to 4,111 in 2007 and 6,500 last week.
Separate figures show the average level of debt facing people seeking assistance from the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (Mabs) has jumped by 50 per cent so far this year.
Figures compiled by the agency - an independent advice centre for people in debt - show the average debt facing Mabs clients in August of this year was €11,400.
Officials say a growing number of people on middle incomes are in serious financial trouble and seeking help to cope with mortgage repayments and other loans.
While 90 per cent of the service's clients were on social welfare when the service was established almost 15 years ago, about one-third are now in employment.
A total of one in four Mabs clients now has a mortgage - up from one in five in 2007.
The total amount owed by clients to creditors is now about €123 million, a 30 per cent increase over the course of this year.
Labour's spokeswoman on social affairs Róisín Shortall said the overall figures confirm the mounting problem of debt among ordinary people.
"They are also likely to get much worse if the growing rate of unemployment is not addressed quickly," she said.
"It is time for the Government to recognise that the problems faced by today's unemployed are very different to those of the '80s and early '90s.
"They are leaving work with huge mortgages, large rent bills and mounting debt problems. If they don't get back into work quickly, the country will have not only a huge unemployment problem but face serious difficulties with home repossessions and even more demand for rental support."
She called on Minister for Social Affairs Mary Hanafin to reform the qualifying rules for assistance with mortgage repayments.
Ms Shortall said that if one person in a couple becomes unemployed and the other is working more than 30 hours per week, there is no help available with meeting mortgage repayments - regardless of the financial circumstances of the family.
She said that many Labour TDs had been contacted by homeowners who have been refused mortgage assistance by their community welfare officer on the basis that they should never have been given a mortgage in the first place.
"The contrasting treatment of these people and our financial institutions could not be more stark. It truly is a case of one rule for the rich and one for the poor," she said.
