Credit will rule people's lives more and more in the euro environment, the third European conference on social debt was told yesterday.

Mr Jan Siebols, of the Dutch society of social banks, warned the euro would mean the spread of credit and the possibility of consumers accessing credit across borders.

Opening the conference in Malahide, Co Dublin, the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern, said there was a need to ensure that massive growth in consumer credit did not lead to an equal growth in consumer debt. "Those living on the margins of poverty must not be the ones to pay for our consumer boom," he added.

He said the Government was committed to an inclusive society and all policy initiatives now had to be "poverty-proofed" or assessed for their impact on poverty.

The Minister also pointed to the role of the Money, Advice and Budgeting Service, now a national network of 50 offices offering a free, confidential and independent service to those in need of advice on debt management.

He added that the one recurring theme at the offices was the lack of general awareness of the options which exist to assist people who get into difficulties with their personal and household finances.

"We need to develop strategies which deliver social policies which actively target over-indebtedness and which will lead to equitable, acceptable and sustainable solutions."

According to Mr Siebols, the use of cross-border contracts on financial services is already growing rapidly, bringing new opportunities for consumers as well as consumer credit, but also new and tremendous risks. It will mean that people will be able to apply for credit outside their own countries. But it will also pave the way for banks to aim at international expansion.

According to Mr Siebols, banks in the Netherlands have already closed branches in poorer districts as a result of which poorer people may be even more likely to look elsewhere for their needs.

"It is not only a matter of forming the United Sates of Europe, it is also a matter of the Americanisation of money and credit. Credit will more than ever rule our lives and will grow so that people can no longer do without it."

And Mr Siebols said that helping consumers to become familiar with the euro is the biggest challenge of the entire monetary union initiative.

"The consumer is worried about an increase in the cost of living and loss of social advantages compared to neighbouring countries as well as resistance to the new scale of prices and values and legal uncertainty," he said.

As a result, consumers needed to be convinced and needed to be able to check the facts themselves.

But the transition will also put a strain on small shopkeepers like the grocery, the baker and the butcher, as the retail sector will have to do most. It will have to double-label all goods in the months running up to the introduction of the notes and coins.

He said the cost of purchasing the necessary software and machinery to do this should be met by governments or else it will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.