Plight of customers in bill-pay collapse to be examined

THE GOVERNMENT will consider the plight of up to 3,000 families and individuals affected by the collapse in August of bill-payment firm Home Payments Ltd.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore gave the assurance in the Dáil when Socialist TD for Dublin West Joe Higgins highlighted the company’s liquidation and its impact on families on low and middle incomes who made regular payments to the firm to pay routine utility bills on time. Some used it to save for future costs and to budget for Christmas, Mr Higgins said, adding the State compensated victims of floods and storms.

The collapse of this company was “as much of a blow to these individuals and families as a storm or a flood”. He called for the Government to establish an emergency fund to ensure they did not suffer unduly this Christmas.

The Tánaiste asked Mr Higgins to give him details. He did not have a prepared answer but would have the issue “examined by my Government colleagues”.

Mr Higgins said some had lost up to €10,000 in the firm’s collapse after it “scandalously succumbed to the siren call of the property market and speculated in it”. Such “would not be noticed by former ministers who receive pensions of €150,000 a year or serving bankers who are paid €500,000 a year. It is an absolute fortune for an ordinary family.”

Mr Higgins said the liquidator had told him “there will not be a settlement until well into next year, if at all”.

Mr Gilmore said Ministers with responsibility “will examine the matter on its merits and with the sympathy we approach issues where people are in financial difficulties”. He was “conscious of the time of year and the implications of this for the families concerned”.