Rich man, poor man
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Tuesday December 23 2008
'STEAL a little and they'll put you in jail; steal a lot and they'll make you a king.' For once, Bob Dylan sacrificed rhyme in favour of reason when he wrote that line, and it has a particular resonance in these strange days.
In recent times, neither the needy nor the greedy had to resort to armed robbery. Financial institutions were happy to oblige, in many cases disregarding the borrower's ability to repay.
The recession has forced us all to re-examine the consequences of our financial actions. One man is told by the Minister for Finance that he must pay back every cent of the €87m he owes the bank that he himself controlled until a few days ago. We are constantly reminded that he has done nothing illegal in concealing his loan from auditors, year after year.
Meanwhile, in a small court in Dublin, a less exotic individual is sent to jail for a week over a debt of €961.
The growing number of people who are receiving jail sentences for failing to pay their debts, as we report today, is a reminder that, even if the debtor's prison no longer exists as an entity of bricks and mortar, the concept is still alive, and Mountjoy serves as a convenient substitute.
In fairness to the court and the judges, a debtor is unlikely to end up in jail if he, or she, turns up to offer some sort of compromise. And credit unions, which give sterling service to the less well-off in good times and in bad, are entitled to pursue those who make no attempt to pay back their loans.
Nevertheless, the contrast between the goings-on at the lofty level of the banks bail-out and the misery at street level is almost Dickensian. The poor get poorer and the rich get a little poorer too, but Mr Micawber still has to go to prison.
In December, 2008 a judge tells a man who owes €5,000: "You are at the door of jail right now. You will go up to the debtor's prison where you will serve every single day, not to Mountjoy for a criminal matter where you're out half an hour later."
What an extraordinary, frank observation on the reality of Ireland today.
