Siobhan Peoples, the manager of the Citizens Advice Bureau Enniskillen last week attended the publication in Armagh of a bankruptcy Report issued by the Office of the First and Deputy First Ministers which showed an almost 400 per cent increase in the number of bankruptcies here over the last six years.

BANKRUPT

Its authors records that, in 2006-2007, some 1,009 went bankrupt, an increase of 360 per cent in just six years. In 2002-2003 the number of people who went bankrupt was 280.

The OFMDFM Report, "Personal over-indebtedness in Northern Ireland" revealed that 11% of those aged over 16 are potentially struggling with their debits, which equates to almost 150,000 people.

LOW INCOMES

At the time when the Report was commissioned, Jeff Rooker, the then Minister at the OFMDFM said there was a real need to ensure that individuals and families, especially those on low incomes, were given all the advice and help they need to manage their finances all year round."

Among the Report's findings are:

* over the period 2003/2004 to 2005/2006, a fifth of households in Northern Ireland in the poorest fifth of households lacked a bank account.

* 1 in 5 households have no personal current account- 81 per cent of NI households have a current account compared to 89 per cent in the UK (Family Resources Survey 2003/04 National Statistics, April 2005).

* 1 in 4 parents have never thought about how their children learn about money (Consumer Council Financial Capability Research, March 2004).