According to the IMF, Bangladesh's economy has held up well, which could prove vital to one businessman and his wife who are facing having their home repossessed here.

Two weeks ago, the former restaurant owner in the south east, whose wife is ill, begged the High Court for extra time to meet demands for possession by a lender that is owed €21,000 in mortgage arrears. The Bangladeshi man lost his restaurant as a result of the credit crunch but told Master Ed Honohan he was trying to sell land in Bangladesh to avoid eviction from his apartment in Ireland.

The case, one of almost 900 home repossession actions lodged in the courts this year, was adjourned for three months to facilitate a solution. Granting mercy to the man, Master Honohan warned that the "whole system is going to break down" as debtors and creditors seek adjournments in legal proceedings.

As banks prepare to place their toxic loans into NAMA -- designed to clear up their balance sheets -- attention is now turning to ordinary creditors who have no recourse to any bailouts.

Behind the €54bn NAMA wall of mainly soured commercial and property loans lies a treacherous €1bn (and counting) wave of personal and corporate debt actions that is set to wash up in our courts.In the first nine months of this year alone, 20,000 personal credit default cases came before the courts involving debts of €395m. That's a 180pc rise in the value of debts during the same period last year.

So far, judges have acted as a compassionate outlet valve, holding back a wall of personal debt pressure by granting adjournments, imploring parties to find out-of-court solutions and deferring, where possible, execution of possession orders to allow debtors to address their problems.

But the dam of personal debt could breach unless we reform our insolvency and bankruptcy laws. In addition to the human costs of personal debt such as marital breakdown, the social cost is also being borne by the taxpayer in the form of increased social welfare payments.

American bankruptcy laws are distinguished by a commitment to the notion of a fresh start, allowing people who lose their homes to discharge their debts and start afresh.

And in Britain, debtors can avail of an arrangement that allows them to earn their way to a new beginning, through a managed process which legally freezes interest and charges.But in Ireland, there is no light at the end of the tunnel for debtors who can't pay their creditors.

On Wednesday, the Law Reform Commission will host a conference on personal debt laws, calling for the establishment of a national debt enforcement office to remove debt recovery out of the courts.

But we cannot wait for years before such laws are placed on the statute books.The same political drive that attended the saving of the banks must also be applied to citizens.

- Dearbhail McDonald

Irish Independent