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Irish Govt to introduce state controlled debit cards for those in debt

SMoney is a constnt worry The Irish Government is under massive pressure to curb debt

Tight spending controls and close monitoring heavily criticised by civil liberties organisations.

The Irish Government has placed itself at the centre of a political storm by announcing future plans for a state run debit card system. Today's announcement follows controversial policy published last week to limit personal spending, outlined in the Personal Insolvency Act.

The proposed card will be linked directly to the financial accounts of anyone availing of the newly launched Insolvency Service of Ireland, and will track and control spending on everyday purchases such as clothing, food, and household services.

The card uses a centralised database, which will categorise each purchase into headings outlined by the act, and automatically cut off further spending when that category's monthly limit has been reached.

'Reasonable Standard of Living'

The limits, outlined in the document 'Guidelines on a reasonable standard of living and reasonable living expenses' include monthly amounts such as €247.04 for food, €31.47 for furniture, appliances, cleaning products etc., and €33.40 for personal hygiene and grooming items. The full PDF can be accessed here.

Civil liberties groups across Ireland and Europe have expressed outrage at the move however, pointing to major privacy issues and the imposition of 'Nanny State' power over citizen's personal finances and movements. A spokesman for the European Civil Liberties Movement commented that "Civil liberties and democracy are under attack as never before and the need for a collective response to counter these threats has never been greater."

European and constitutional legal specialists have suggested that fatal flaws in the proposal will mean the cards will never see the light of day. This may be yet another embarrassment for the Irish Government, who were revealed to be at the heart of last year's proposal to sell advertising space on European currency.

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