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PERSONAL FINANCE:IN 2008 THERE were only eight bankruptcies declared in Ireland and, despite a huge rise in indebtedness, this only rose to 17 in 2009. Many myths, anecdotes and half-truths about bankruptcy persist. On the one hand, the term conjures up images of Victorian debtors’ prisons. On the other, we imagine fat-cats being allowed to walk away from their vast debts with impunity.

“I think bankruptcy information in the public imagination is very often of the Hollywood variety or the UK variety,” says Michael Culloty from the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (Mabs). “That’s what people base their general understanding on. Bankruptcy is not the same everywhere. You can be free from bankruptcy within a year in the UK, but with the law in Ireland the terms and conditions attached are much more onerous. We advise people we deal with not to consider bankruptcy at all. It’s just not suitable.”