PEOPLE BEING imprisoned for inability to pay their debts is likely to increase in the worsening economic climate, the chairman of the Irish Human Rights Commission has warned.
Maurice Manning said it was a human rights issue about which the commission was extremely concerned.
Addressing the annual general meeting of the Irish Association of Social Workers, Mr Manning said the commission had in January been granted leave to appear as amicus curiaein a court case concerning possible imprisonment for civil debt, under the Enforcement of Court Orders Acts 1926-1940.
“We applied to the High Court to seek liberty to appear in the proceedings on account of the human rights issues in the case, including the principles outlined under the European Convention on Human Rights that ‘No one shall be deprived of his liberty merely on the ground of an inability to fulfil a contractual obligation.’ ”
This right was also enunciated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, he said.
“The commission considers that this case raises an important issue around imprisonment for debt, which, in worsening economic times, is likely to be an issue which will affect more and more people.
The UN called on the Government last year “to ensure that its laws are not used to imprison a person for the inability to fulfil a contractual obligation”, he said.
